Fresh agony for US air passengers as hundreds more flights cancelled and delayed following ground stops at major airports

Thousands of passengers are stuck at airports amid ongoing travel chaos at major US airports following a telecommunications outage. 

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and delayed following the technical issues at Dallas Love Field and Dallas Fort Worth International Airports.

A ground stop issued Friday saw over 400 cancellations and left passengers scrambling, with many still stranded.

The ground stop was lifted just after 9am ET on Saturday, but disruption is ongoing with over 70 flights delayed and 40 cancelled by 10am at both airports.

A spokesperson with DFW told Daily Mail that the airport was ‘in close coordination’ with the FAA and confirmed that there were no current ground stops as of Saturday morning. 

Dozens more delays were also recorded from airports across the US flying to the Lone Star State.

It comes as a cyberattack disrupted check-in and boarding systems at European airports, causing further delays.

According to FlightAware, there were over 9,000 flight delays worldwide overnight on Saturday, including 640 into or out of the US. There were also 382 reported cancellations, with 181 into or out of the US. 

Disgruntled passengers took to social media to vent their frustrations, with some sharing that they had spent the night on airport floors. 

Don and Maria Miller said they were ‘not impressed’ after spending 18 hours at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

Another passenger at the same airport took to X in the early hours of Saturday to share that it was a ‘nightmare to all’.

The FAA said the telecommunications outage was due to a ‘local telephone company equipment issue’.

It initially caused over 430 cancellations and 580 delays at DFW, and an additional 190 delays at Love Field, according to FlightAware. 

Audio from air traffic controllers captured by LiveATC.net recorded one controller saying: ‘We’ve lost all radar and phone communications’. 

‘I’m not departing anybody until we can get a system setup. We have no coms with approach right now’. 

‘I think the entire Metroplex just went down,’ they added.

Airlines were forced to deal with the travel disruptions, as American Airlines issued a travel alert for all passengers flying to and from Dallas. 

The airline, whose main hub is in Dallas, stated on X: ‘The FAA reported an issue involving the telecommunications provider for the air traffic control facility that oversees the airspace in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

‘As a result, the FAA has severely limited flights into both DFW Airport and Dallas Love Field, which is affecting our operation’.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz posted on X that his team was aware of the issue and was closely monitoring the situation with the FAA.  

Travelers in Dallas were forced to endure long delays on Friday, with one telling local ABC affiliate, WFAA, he had the ‘worst travel luck ever’. 

‘I just kept getting half-hour delays, pretty much every half hour on the half hour from Southwest,’ Matt Yonchak told the outlet. 

‘We just kept getting delayed, delayed,’ passenger Krysta Wagner told CNN at DFW. 

‘Hopefully they can rebook us and get us to Miami before 12 tomorrow, or we are going to miss our cruise,’ passenger Marion Anson-Perchal from Wichita Falls added. 

Passengers across the country were impacted by the disruption, with travelers in Kansas City, Missouri, facing significant delays and cancellations while trying to get to the Lone Star State. 

Benjamin Blackwell told local NBC affiliate, KSHB, that he missed his flight to Dallas for a Texas Longhorn game. 

His flight was rebooked for Saturday morning, but he told the outlet that he considered driving instead to make the game. 

Meanwhile, European vacationers trying to get back to the US were forced to wait in three-hour lines due to the cyberattack. 

Collins Aerospace, which provides services for airlines, was hit by the attack, and airline employees were forced to check in passengers manually. 

Airports in London, Brussels, and Berlin were impacted, with dozens of flight delays and cancellations.