Flights snarled at Dallas airports over equipment issues, FAA says

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DALLAS (AP) — Hundreds of flights in and out of Dallas were delayed or canceled Friday as telecommunications equipment issues disrupted one of the nation’s busiest airports, federal officials said

The Federal Aviation Administration said it was slowing flights at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport because of a “reported local telephone company equipment issue.” The same problems were also impacting Dallas Love Field, according to the agency, which said the issue did not involve FAA equipment.

The FAA expects the delays to continue well into Friday night.

According to FlightAware, as of late Friday afternoon, nearly 700 flights in and out of DFW Airport were delayed while about 200 canceled. About 160 flights were delayed in and out of Love Field while one flight was canceled.

A spokesperson for Love Field said they were in “constant communication” with partners including the FAA as they “work to manage the situation and minimize disruptions.” DFW Airport said on the social platform X that the FAA was managing the air traffic delays in the area.

As of late Friday afternoon, departures from Love Field were delayed by an average of about 30 minutes, according to the FAA website. At DFW Airport, a ground stop was in place for American Airlines and flights on other airlines were being delayed by over an hour.

All flights were stopped at both airports for more than an hour.

American Airlines said on X that the FAA had reported “an issue involving the telecommunications provider for the air traffic control facility that oversees the airspace in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.”

The FAA said the problems in Dallas weren’t linked to the aging equipment that air traffic controllers rely on or the nationwide shortage of controllers that both combined to disrupt flights at Newark Liberty International Airport earlier this year. The federal government is now working to overhaul the technology after Congress approved $12.5 billion and hire thousands more controllers but both efforts will likely take years to complete.