Delays at LAX, John Wayne, Long Beach airports after FAA lifts grounding order

The Federal Aviation Authority lifted an order grounding flights across the United States around 6 a.m. Wednesday after a system failure caused thousands of delays at airports nationwide, including at airports in Southern California.

More than 6,000 across multiple carriers were delayed within, into, or out of the country as of 7:30 a.m., according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website.

Several airports reported delays to their schedules in Southern California, though spokespeople for the various airports said early Wednesday they may have been spared the brunt of the impacts because their airports have limited activity or were shut down when the system failure occurred.

At Los Angeles International Airport, roughly 12% of the schedule was impacted by delays as of 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, said Heath Montgomery, an airport spokesperson. Seven flights were canceled, and 167 inbound and outbound flights were running delays between 15 minutes to about two hours or more.

“It is that very first batch of flights that is impacted,” Montgomery said, adding that the timing was important. The airport has limited activity between midnight and 5 a.m., he said.

“Right now, it looks pretty good overall,” Montgomery said. But he added “it will be up and down all day long, we know there will be impacts throughout the day.”

Ontario International Airport reported nine departures and 12 arrivals that have delays between 30 to 40 minutes, Steve Lambert, spokesperson for Ontario airport, said. Southwest, Alaska, United and Hawaiian airlines were among those experiencing disruptions, he said.

“We don’t have flights in the early, early morning period, so we were probably not impacted quite as much,” Lambert said.

Curfews at John Wayne Airport and Long Beach Airport also spared the facilities from the brunt of the failure, according to spokespeople for the airports.

Still, the locations felt the disruptions.

At Long Beach Airport, two outbound flights were canceled, likely because of the failure, said Kate Kuykendall, an airport spokesperson, adding there may be additional delays.

John Wayne Airport also reported minimal disruptions early Wednesday. The first outbound flight departs at 7 a.m., AnnaSophia Servin, an airport spokesperson, said.

“This morning all flights originating [from John Wayne] can depart as scheduled,” Servin said. There were “several delays” regarding arrivals, but the number was likely to fluctuate throughout the day, Servin said.

Hollywood Burbank Airport had eight cancellations and six delayed arrivals as of 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, said spokesperson Mike Christensen in a text.

The FAA had ordered all departing flights grounded early Wednesday morning but lifted that order just before 6 a.m. after several hours.

The groundings affected almost all aircraft, including shipping and passenger flights. Most delays were concentrated along the East Coast, but on social media, travelers reported delayed or grounded flights at airports around the country, including LAX.

The FAA said it was continuing to look into the cause of the initial problem.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.