Cathay Pacific warns of delays after US ground stop hits Hong Kong-bound flights

Two Hong Kong-bound Cathay Pacific flights from the United States have been affected by a nationwide ground stop, with the city’s flag carrier warning of further delays.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had temporarily grounded flights nationwide following a communications breakdown at regional air traffic control centres.

“We’re closely monitoring the impact of the nationwide ground stop in the United States issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier today,” Cathay Pacific Airways said in a statement on Saturday.

“Two of our flights (CX807 from Chicago and CX879 from San Fransico) departing from the United States on November 13th (local time) were impacted by these restrictions. We are looking after these customers with hotel accommodation overnight.”

The airline said all its remaining flights to and from the United States on Saturday were operating as scheduled.

“Delays on some flights will occur as we work with air traffic control and airport authorities as they clear the congestion caused by the earlier ground stop,” it said.

Cathay added that it would continue to monitor the situation and update customers if circumstances changed.

The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop hours after imposing it on Friday afternoon.

The grounding forced the cancellation of nearly 5,000 flights and marked the longest nationwide shutdown of US airspace since the September 11, 2001, attacks. The Department of Homeland Security said there were no signs that a cyberattack caused the outage.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy earlier said the fault had affected all 22 regional centres that handle aircraft travelling between airports, and that FAA technicians were working to identify the cause.