Air India on Saturday urged passengers to verify their flight status before leaving for the airport, as massive travel disruptions gripped the United States.
A severe communications failure initially forced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to halt all nationwide departures, though the agency later lifted the ground stop.
Despite the FAA lifting the ban, airlines warned travellers that severe delays and cancellations would likely persist throughout the day.
Air India posted a statement on X confirming that the US communication outages had impacted air traffic operations and threatened its own US-bound and returning flights.
The airline assured travellers that its dedicated teams are closely monitoring the evolving situation and will share timely updates as they become available.
Earlier, the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center noted that the ground stop covered most of the country, though some coastal hubs cleared international departures.
The official notice lifting the halt did not specify the root cause of the communications breakdown, nor did it confirm a return to normal schedules.
Meanwhile, American Airlines reported that select flights were slowly receiving departure clearances, even as the vast majority of its domestic operations remained paused.
American Airlines anticipated unavoidable cancellations and advised customers to check their flight statuses and review travel alerts for rebooking options.
Addressing reporters earlier, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that officials halted flights purely as a precaution following the telecommunications outage.
Mullin noted that initial assessments showed no signs of a nefarious attack, although investigators have not completely ruled out a potential cyberattack.
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