US flight operations resume after nationwide air traffic control failure

United States aviation authorities have restored domestic airspace operations following a nationwide ground stop on Friday. The disruption, which lasted over four hours, marked the longest full shutdown of US air traffic control systems since September 11, 2001. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the system failure stemmed from aging hardware rather than a cyberattack or software error. Flight tracking data indicated that more than 11,000 flights suffered delays or cancellations during the incident.

While air traffic control communications have been re-established across all 22 regional centres, officials warned that operational backlogs will affect flight schedules for several days. Federal agencies confirmed that safety protocols remained active throughout the outage and no security breaches occurred.

Sources: BBC News, Cyprus Mail, France24, STV News, The Guardian