US flight chaos spared most direct India routes, but connecting passengers faced heavy delays through Sunday. Cirium data showed only one of 17 non-stop flights got cancelled between November 13 and November 15. While international services stayed stable, many domestic travelers struggled as airlines worked to restore their normal schedules.
Passengers travelling directly between the US and India largely escaped the widespread aviation disruption triggered by a nationwide ground stop in the US, but those relying on domestic connections within the country faced considerable uncertainty as cancellations and delays continued through Sunday, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.
Of the 17 non-stop departures scheduled from the US to India between November 13 and November 15, only one was cancelled, Cirium data showed. Air India and United Airlines operated all their scheduled services during the period, while American Airlines cancelled one flight on November 13.
However, passengers connecting through US airports remained vulnerable to missed connections and rescheduling as cancellations spread across the domestic network, affecting onward journeys even when international flights operated as scheduled.
The disruption originated during routine maintenance of the US Federal Aviation Administration's ageing telecommunications network. A contractor was replacing copper telephone lines with fibre at a remote facility when a router began flooding other routers in the air traffic control network with excessive connection requests. The resulting instability disrupted communications between air traffic controllers and aircraft, besides affecting radar feeds, prompting the FAA to order a nationwide ground stop on November 13 as a safety precaution.
Although the ground stop was lifted after more than four hours, its operational consequences continued as airlines struggled to restore schedules, aircraft rotations and crew availability. This resulted in cancellations and delays extending into Saturday and Sunday, disrupting passengers across the US domestic network.
According to Cirium data, 6,487 of the 22,232 scheduled departures in the US were cancelled on November 14, translating into a cancellation rate of 29.18%.
This was more than eight times the average cancellation rate of 3.4% recorded by US airlines in 2026 before the disruption. Operational performance also deteriorated sharply, with only 50.52% of departures operating within 14 minutes of schedule and 61.34% within 30 minutes.
Among major airports, Chicago O'Hare recorded 314 cancellations, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth with 299 and Atlanta with 236. New York's John F Kennedy airport recorded 167 cancellations. American Airlines cancelled 2,126 of its 5,702 scheduled departures, while Delta Air Lines and United Airlines cancelled 1,334 and 1,286 flights, respectively.
The situation showed signs of improvement on Sunday morning, with Cirium recording 587 cancellations, or around 2% of scheduled US departures, as of 7:30 am IST. The figure remained provisional.
Separately, Air India on Sunday said it has restored non-stop services between Delhi and Mumbai and New York's JFK and Newark airports after resuming the use of Iraqi airspace, eliminating the technical refuelling stop at Rome. The revised routing has reduced journey times by around four hours, although the airline continues to avoid Iranian airspace and faces restrictions on Pakistani airspace.