‘The urgent need to modernize’ | FAA blames telecom failures, outdated systems for Dallas flight delays.

Flights on Friday at both major Dallas-Fort Worth airports were impacted by a telecommunications issue, according to the FAA.

DALLAS (WFAA) — The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Saturday that operations at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field have returned to normal levels following widespread flight disruptions that began Friday afternoon.

Love Field officials said Saturday morning that the FAA was still reporting “intermittent outages” and some resulting delays, though flights at the airport were operating normally. At that time, officials noted they did not have a definite resolution time. By Saturday morning, DFW Airport had already logged 63 cancellations and 89 delays.

Several other regional airports were also affected by the outages but were given the all-clear shortly before 5 p.m. Friday.

“The FAA reported an issue involving the telecommunications provider for the air traffic control facility that oversees the airspace in the Dallas-Fort Worth area,” American Airlines said in a statement. “As a result, the FAA has severely limited flights into both DFW Airport and Dallas Love Field, which is affecting our operation.”

American Airlines said in a statement that travelers who were impacted could rebook without change fees.

According to the FAA, the disruption was caused by multiple failures of the TDMI data telecommunications service provided by Frontier, a local telecommunications company. The outage affected the FAA’s Dallas TRACON facility, which oversees air traffic in the region. Oversight by the FAA’s contractor, L3Harris, failed to ensure that redundancies in the system worked properly, officials said.

The agency added that the incident highlights “outdated infrastructure” and underscores the urgent need to modernize U.S. air traffic control systems. Moving from aging analog systems to more resilient digital technology, the FAA said, is critical to maintaining reliability in the national airspace system.

The FAA also pointed to “thousands of state and local permitting obstacles” as barriers that could delay modernization efforts by years.

Officials said the agency is now working closely with airlines on recovery plans to support flights impacted by Friday’s disruptions.