Airport chaos continues after US ground stop lifted – as it happened

We’re wrapping up this live coverage of the US ground stop and travel chaos that followed – it’s just passed 12.50am in Washington DC. Below’s a rundown on what happened, and you can read a full report here. Thanks for being with us.

• The Federal Aviation Administration declared a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon, throwing airports into sudden chaos, after a communications failure at air traffic control centres.

• More than 6,600 flights were cancelled and 8,600 delayed, with another 1,500 already cancelled for Sunday, according to FlightRadar24. Aviation analysts said the four-hour nationwide grounding could disrupt airline ⁠schedules for days. It was the longest flight shutdown since the attacks of September 11 2001.

• The FAA lifted the ground stop later on Friday, with transportation secretary Sean Duffy saying US airspace reopened at 8.15pm ET (0115 GMT). But departures would ⁠resume gradually and it would take ​time for airlines to restore normal operations, he warned. “It’s going to be slow.”