BWI flights largely return to normal after nationwide ground stop, but travelers still feel impact
Airlines have largely resumed regular operations at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) on Sunday, two days after a telecommunications outage caused by overloaded routers prompted a nationwide ground stop.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, there were 37 flight cancellations and nearly 230 delays at BWI, according to FlightAware. On Saturday, the airport saw 116 cancellations and 187 delays.
The Federal Aviation Administration said approximately 12,400 flights were canceled and more than 7,000 were delayed nationwide during the disruptions, which began when the ground stop took effect around 3:30 p.m. Friday and ended around 8:15 p.m.
FlightAware data showed that more than 150 flights were canceled at BWI on Friday.
"The airlines worked to accommodate and assist their passengers," a BWI spokesperson stated.
Even as operations began to recover, passengers described the uncertainty and frustration they faced Saturday night.
"I walked in and I can't believe it's so quiet," said Nicole Dungee, a passenger from Baltimore. "I don't know if people are staying home or what."
While flights have resumed, the ripple effects of the disruptions are still being felt by travelers.
"We went on a cruise on the 7th and we got off today and now we can't get home," said 15-year-old Riley Smith, who was visiting from Buffalo, New York.
Smith and his family were returning from a cruise in Miami when their flight home to Buffalo was canceled, leaving them stranded in Baltimore overnight.
"Our flight got canceled, delayed," Smith said. "We finally got to Baltimore but our hotel room is not working I guess? And now we can't get home."
Kia Staton, a traveler from Baltimore, said the disruptions couldn't have come at a worse time.
"We're supposed to go on a cruise for a wedding (Sunday) and they canceled us tonight and said they couldn't get us rescheduled until Monday," Staton said.
Fortunately, a friend helped her find another flight.
"Everything is going to work out, we're going to get down there," she said.
Despite the lingering problems, some travelers at BWI said they were relieved the worst of the disruptions appeared to be over.
"I hope it doesn't happen again any time soon," Dungee said.
Transportation officials said the outage was connected to maintenance work performed by FAA telecommunications contractor L3Harris Technologies. The work involved replacing aging copper communications lines with fiber-optic connections at a remote facility.
Officials said that as a router was being switched over, it flooded other routers with traffic and overloaded the system.
"We're looking at that right now, and when we know what the root cause of this issue was — was it the install from L3Harris, was it the router — I'm going to tell you and the American people what we find," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
