PAL monitors US flight situation after nationwide ground stop

MANILA, Philippines — Flag carrier Philippine Airlines is monitoring its flights to and from the United States after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop that disrupted air travel for several hours on Friday.

In an advisory on Saturday, PAL said it continues to monitor its US flights as operations normalize.

"Passengers are advised to check their flight status through PAL’s official communication channels for the latest updates," the airlines said.

The FAA imposed the nationwide ground stop following a communications outage that US officials attributed to the country's aging air traffic control system.

The disruption left hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded, with some travelers forced to disembark from planes shortly before departure.

Nearly 6,000 flights were canceled, including some international routes, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the outage on outdated equipment, including switches, routers and copper telephone lines used by the country's air traffic control system.

Duffy described the incident as a legacy system problem and renewed his call for Congress to fund the modernization of the US air traffic control system.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, meanwhile, said there was no evidence that the outage was caused by a cyberattack or an artificial intelligence-related attack.

The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop after about four hours. However, flight disruptions were expected to continue as airlines worked to address delays and cancellations caused by the outage.