FAA Chief: U.S. Air Travel Expected to Return to Normal by Evening of the 15th

Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Brian Bedford said nationwide air transportation was expected to return to normal by the evening of the 15th. According to Sina Finance, Bedford apologized to the U.S. public on the 14th after a nationwide flight halt disrupted air travel, saying the worst period had passed. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines canceled about 20% of their flights on the 14th, while JetBlue canceled about 40%, according to U.S. reports that day. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an investigation was underway into whether operator error caused the communications failure. At the time, an FAA contractor was upgrading communication lines, replacing copper cables with fiber-optic cables. After the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop on the 13th because of a large-scale communications failure, airlines canceled nearly 10,000 flights and delayed more than 7,000. The ground stop lasted nearly five hours, making it the longest nationwide flight halt since the September 11, 2001, attacks.