The head of the US Department of Transportation stated the reason for the nationwide collapse at the airports.
The suspension of flights from US airports is due to problems with radar and communications systems, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
"At 15:36, we detected instability in centers and towers throughout the country. The radar information was inconsistent, although communications and radar capabilities were not completely lost," the White House said.
"We have incredibly old air traffic control systems," the minister complained.
The restrictions came into effect at 15:53 and lasted until 20:19, international flights were made on an individual basis. According to Cirium, the crash affected 1.5 million passengers. After the resumption of flights, 8.5 thousand flights were postponed, more than 6.7 thousand were canceled.
This is the second such incident in US history after September 11, 2001. In January 2023, the FAA imposed a ban of less than two hours.