LOT Flights to Warsaw resume after U.S. ground stop lifted

After flight operations resumed at U.S. airports, all three LOT Polish Airlines return flights departed for Warsaw with delays ranging from several minutes to more than four hours, airline spokesperson Krzysztof Moczulski told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop that had been imposed several hours earlier. According to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the disruption was caused by a failure in an aging communications system that became overloaded during a software update.

Speaking to PAP after operations resumed, Moczulski said that all three LOT return flights to Warsaw had departed.

Flight LO4 from Chicago O'Hare (ORD) departed with an eight-minute delay, Flight LO27 from New York John F. Kennedy (JFK) was delayed by 40 minutes, and Flight LO22 from Los Angeles (LAX) departed four hours and 30 minutes behind schedule, Moczulski said.

He added that the disruption also affected subsequent Boeing 787 Dreamliner rotations.

"As a consequence, flights LO65 from Warsaw to Bangkok and LO23 from Warsaw to Los Angeles may be delayed by approximately two hours," he said.

Moczulski emphasized that the operational situation continued to be monitored.

Following the restoration of flight operations, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said there was no indication that the suspension of flights had been caused by a cyberattack or by the involvement of a foreign actor. Officials also stated that the incident was unrelated to any outage involving Microsoft services.

According to Fox News, the disruption led to more than 8,500 delayed flights and approximately 6,500 cancellations. Airports across the country experienced significant operational difficulties. Some aircraft were diverted because of limited airport capacity, while passengers on other flights remained on board for extended periods due to a shortage of available gates.

The nationwide ground stop was only the third such event in U.S. history. Previous incidents occurred following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and in January 2023 due to a failure of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. In the latter case, the disruption lasted several hours and resulted in widespread cancellations and delays over the following days.

(pu)

Source: PAP