Dozens of flights diverted and delayed after FAA warns of SpaceX debris

Several commercial flights were diverted or delayed after SpaceX’s Starship rocket failed during its seventh flight test Thursday.

Dozens of flights were affected, according to flight tracker Flightradar24.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it “briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area of ​​falling space vehicle debris” after issuing a warning to pilots about “a dangerous area for falling debris from the Starship rocket.”

The rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s facility near Brownsville, Texas, shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET, and was heading toward East Texas. It ruptured and SpaceX said on X that it would “continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause.”

The FAA has not received any reports of injuries or property damage caused by Starship debris, an agency spokesperson told CNBC.

A JetBlue Airways A flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, was diverted to Fort Lauderdale after nearly two hours in the air, according to FlightAware, another flight tracking site. JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other flights near Turks and Caicos Islands, including one FedEx The cargo plane appeared to turn around, according to flight tracking data, while a Spirit Airlines plane also changed course.

The airlines and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the disruptions.

A American airlines The spokeswoman said the carrier had made fewer than 10 diversions due to the problem.

Airlines and other commercial flights, as well as private planes, compete for airspace, especially in the congested area around Florida.

— CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.