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IrelandAustralia's US-bound departures disrupted by American flight shutdown
Reporting from Sydney Airport, Rhiannon Soliman-Marron explains how the US communications failure interrupted journeys before travellers left Australia.
AustraliaStory of Why this story? One of ABC News (Australia)'s most watched videos since yesterday, with 189,372 views.
ABC News (Australia): The news division of the ABC, Australia's public broadcaster. 2.6M subscribers and 1.7B views.
Airport chaos as grounding of all US flights leaves travellers stranded | ABC NEWS
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The disruption reached across the Pacific before some passengers had even boarded. Flights departing Australia for the United States faced temporary suspensions and delays during the nationwide American ground stop, reporter Rhiannon Soliman-Marron explains from Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's ABC News report follows the shutdown from crowded US terminals to its consequences for Australian travellers. Departures had resumed by the time of the report, but lengthy delays remained. The bulletin puts the number of delayed or cancelled US flights at more than 15,000.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy describes the warning signs that prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to halt departures: "We started to have inconsistency in the data from the radars and our communication with, with airplanes."
Reporter Emilie Gramenz pairs that explanation with footage from aircraft cabins and terminals. Australian traveller Rivkah-Louise Brown describes waiting without useful information: "There hasn't been like many announcements or like updates or like anything."
The report also places the failure against efforts to modernise air traffic control using AI. It says officials were pointing to older systems rather than a cyberattack, not identifying AI as the cause. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the president has declared a national emergency and calls for Congress to act.
A subsequent bulletin from the broadcaster gives a more specific, still provisional explanation: officials were investigating a contractor-installed router and a programme replacing copper wiring with fibre optics. For the Australian departures covered here, the immediate consequence was a disrupted journey at both ends of the Pacific.
Sydney’s main international airport, located in Mascot, nine kilometres south of the city centre.
More on Wikipedia ›The US secretary of transportation and a Republican politician. He previously represented a Wisconsin district in the US House of Representatives.
More on Wikipedia ›The US agency responsible for regulating civil aviation, including air traffic control. It is part of the Department of Transportation.
More on Wikipedia ›The US secretary of homeland security since 2026. A Republican, he previously represented Oklahoma in both chambers of Congress.
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
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