GREENSBORO, N.C. — A nationwide halt to air traffic on Friday left people stuck at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, as the Federal Aviation Administration kept planes on the ground from coast to coast.
The FAA tied the shutdown to communication problems. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the trouble touched every Air Route Traffic Control Center and that there was no sign of any malicious act behind it.
By 8:30 p.m., the Greensboro airport was showing 26 canceled flights and 10 delays tied to the stoppage. The ground stop stretched for close to five hours before it was called off shortly before 9 p.m., earlier than the 11 p.m. end time the agency first set.
While it was in place, departing planes were told to stay parked until further notice, and arriving international flights were handled one at a time.
The disruption also hit a Triad team. The UNC Greensboro basketball team had planned to fly to Syracuse for a Saturday game against Cornell, but the stoppage pushed that game back, and the team was left waiting inside a terminal at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Other airports in the state had it worse. Charlotte Douglas listed 323 delays and 251 cancellations, and Raleigh-Durham International showed 114 delays and one cancellation.
Airlines were still working through the backlog Saturday morning, so anyone with a flight out of Greensboro this weekend should confirm their status directly with the carrier before driving to the airport. Rebooked passengers may also want to arrive early, since lines at check-in and security can run longer while carriers move stranded travelers onto open seats.
Section: More Raleigh NC crime news
Filed under: Raleigh NC Traffic News
