A ground stop had to be made at Nashville International Airport after a loss of communication in Memphis disrupted travel Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration had ordered the ground shutdown Friday morning due to a communications outage at the Memphis air traffic control center.
It was originally released just before 10 a.m. Central Time before expiring an hour later as millions flew out for Memorial Day weekend.
The TSA predicted that Friday will be the busiest day for air travel of the weekend, with nearly 3 million people expected to pass through airport checkpoints.
FlightAware recorded just over 700 delayed flights across the United States as of Friday afternoon, including four canceled.
On Thursday, the TSA screened just under 2.9 million people, about 11,000 short of the record set on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year.
Travelers wait in line to go through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security screening at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., May 24, 2024.
Cars drive through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ahead of Memorial Day, Friday, May 24, 2024, in Atlanta
FlightAware recorded just over 700 delayed flights across the United States as of Friday afternoon.
Memphis International Airport officials said they will prepare for a huge surge in Memorial Day weekend travelers.
Airport officials told Fox they expect to see more than 55,000 people pass through their checkpoints, which would be a 6% increase from last year.
The volume of flights passing through the airport this past Memorial Day weekend was the busiest in 15 years.
Those traveling in Iowa and Illinois could face further disruptions after the National Weather Service (NWS) warned of severe thunderstorms that could impact travel.
The NWS said the storms were expected to bring “very large hail, hurricane-force gusts and strong tornadoes.”
Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport had already experienced more than 100 delays as of Friday, according to FlightAware.
As of Thursday, New York’s LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport had nearly 700 delays and 90 cancellations.
AAA spokeswoman Aixa Diaz said: “Airports are going to be more crowded than we’ve seen in 20 years. »
Samuel Tadros and his daughter Serenity 3, sit with the family’s bags after their flight to New York was canceled at Nashville International Airport on Thursday, May 23, 2024
Travelers transit through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport ahead of Memorial Day, Friday, May 24, 2024.
Travelers wait in line to go through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security screening at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.
Highways are also likely to be blocked in the coming days as motorists leave the city and then return home.
AAA predicted it would be the busiest early summer weekend in nearly 20 years, with 43.8 million people expected to travel at least 50 miles from home between Thursday and Monday, including 38 million in vehicles.
The California Highway Patrol has already announced it will deploy “maximum enforcement” across the state as it prepares for “traffic chaos.”
Spokesman Art Montiel told SFGATE that officers will be looking for impaired drivers and warned drivers that they should prepare for heavy traffic throughout the weekend.
He told the outlet: “It’s not raining, it’s nice out, so people are going to want to go out and have fun with family and friends. Definitely plan ahead. Plan for the worst.
The weekend’s traffic and crowded airports could be a sample of what’s to come. U.S. airlines expect to carry record numbers of passengers this summer.
Their trade group estimates that 271 million travelers will fly between June 1 and August 31, breaking the record of 255 million set – you guessed it – last summer.
Airport unions are taking advantage of the public holiday weekend to assert their demands.
Cars drive along a highway during Memorial Day weekend while the New York Skyline and Empire State Building are visible in the background in Clifton, New Jersey, the United States, May 24, 2024.
AAA predicted it would be the busiest early summer weekend in nearly 20 years
Weekend traffic and crowded airports could be a sample of what’s to come
A record number of Americans are expected to hit the sidewalk over the 2024 Memorial Day weekend.
About 100 workers who clean airplane cabins and drive garbage trucks at the Charlotte, North Carolina, airport began a 24-hour strike Thursday, demanding better wages and better health care, according to the union international service employees.
About 15% of flights were delayed, but it is unclear whether the strike played a role.
A planned strike at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, however, was averted. Teamsters Local 553, which represents about 300 workers who refuel passenger and cargo planes at JFK, said it reached an agreement with Allied Aviation Services and canceled a strike planned for Friday.
“We are happy that an agreement has been reached, that the need for a strike has been avoided and we hope that the agreement will be ratified by our members,” said Demos Demopoulos, secretary-treasurer of the local union.
More than 8,700 flights were delayed Thursday, with the biggest delays in the New York area; Charlotte, North Carolina; Boston; and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago O’Hare Airport.
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