A significant ground stop and equipment outage on Friday evening led to the cancellation and delay of hundreds of flights at DFW International Airport and Love Field Airport. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the disruption was caused by “multiple failures” of technology provided by a local internet provider, Frontier Communications. In a statement to The Dallas Morning News, the FAA confirmed that the outages stemmed from issues with the TDMI data telecommunications service offered by Frontier.
The FAA explained that the outage impacted the FAA’s Dallas TRACON facility, which is crucial for managing aircraft as they approach and depart from airports. TRACON facilities are responsible for air traffic control within a 30 to 50-mile radius and up to an altitude of 10,000 feet, as detailed by the air safety website Skybrary. The disruption at this control center significantly affected operations at both major airports in the Dallas area.
Fortunately, the FAA has reported that operations at both DFW Airport and Love Field have returned to normal levels. The agency is currently collaborating with airlines to implement recovery plans for the flights that were affected by the outages. Love Field serves as the primary hub for Southwest Airlines, which operates 18 of the airport’s 20 gates, while American Airlines manages its central hub out of DFW.
Between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday, only nine American flights were able to depart from DFW, as reported by David Seymour, the airline’s chief operating officer, in a letter to staff. Typically, American Airlines manages around 100 departures per hour from DFW. “At no time during these system outages in the DFW metroplex was the safety of our aircraft, crew, or customers compromised,” Seymour reassured. He commended the FAA’s prompt response, which ensured that operational control was maintained throughout the disruption.
The impact of Friday’s outage was considerable, with over 530 flights canceled by American Airlines alone, and an additional 160 cancellations on Saturday. As of 2 p.m. Saturday, DFW Airport reported 251 delays and 155 cancellations, while Love Field recorded 46 delays but no cancellations. FlightAware data indicated that the total disruptions included 607 delays and 510 cancellations at DFW, alongside 224 delays and one cancellation at Love Field.
FAA officials attributed part of the problem to L3Harris, an aerospace and defense contractor, stating that the company “failed to ensure that redundancies in the system functioned properly.” This incident emphasizes the pressing need for modernization within the FAA’s infrastructure. “This is a clear example of the FAA’s outdated infrastructure and underscores the urgent need to modernize our air traffic control systems,” the statement said. It also pointed out the critical importance of overcoming numerous state and local permitting obstacles, which could delay modernization efforts by several years.
Friday’s technology failure in Dallas is reminiscent of similar air traffic control outages earlier this year near Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. In May, a brief 90-second technology outage at a Philadelphia air traffic control facility disrupted radar and communications. This incident occurred just weeks after a comparable outage impacted Newark’s air traffic controllers.
In light of these ongoing issues, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has announced a comprehensive plan to overhaul the nation’s air traffic control system. This initiative aims to replace aging infrastructure, including radar, software, hardware, and telecommunications networks, to better align with modern travel demands. Duffy emphasized this critical plan in a social media post regarding the Dallas-area outage, advocating for the advancement of reliable and resilient air traffic control systems.
