Add as a preferred source on GoogleNationwide U.S. Flight Halt Nears End as Airline Shares Slide
An ETF tracking the S&P 500 fell as much as 0.5%, while investigators examined a possible link between the communications failure and a software update.
The Federal Aviation Administration is nearing an end to its nationwide ground stop after an air traffic control communications failure weighed on U.S. airline shares and stock-index funds in after-hours trading Friday.
An ETF tracking the S&P 500 briefly fell 0.5%, while a Nasdaq-100 ETF dropped as much as 0.8%. United Airlines shares declined 1.2%, JetBlue fell 2.4% and American Airlines lost 1.7%.
Shares in Palo Alto and Crowdstrike each rose 2%, while Zscaler gained 1%.
The FAA issued the nationwide stop Friday morning after a failure in air traffic control communication frequencies. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said all en route traffic control centers were affected.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) assessed the outage was not caused by a cyberattack or criminal conduct. Investigators were examining whether the problem was linked to a software update.
The ground stop is expected to end soon, easing flight restrictions imposed across the country.
Enna Lee
ReporterEnna Lee reports on investing and digital-asset markets for TokenPost. Send corrections or tips to info@tokenpost.com.