A nationwide FAA ground stop briefly grounded flights across the US, including at Honolulu's airport, but it has now been lifted.

• The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop around 11 a.m. Hawaii time and lifted it a few hours later, blaming communications problems and outages at regional air traffic control centers and terminal facilities.
• Hawaii's own airports had no communications issues, but inter-island and international flights kept operating throughout; only some mainland-bound domestic flights were affected.
• This was only the second nationwide ground stop since the September 11 attacks, leaving travelers stuck and anxious since there's no way to drive to the mainland from an island.
• Thousands of flights nationwide were delayed and thousands more canceled, also disrupting NBA, NHL, and college sports travel; a separate West Coast flight pause tied to space launch debris in Texas added to the confusion.
• The White House said the trouble looked like a telecommunications outage with no sign of a security threat, and major airlines are issuing waivers for affected travelers.

Outlook: Flights are resuming, but travelers should still check with their airline for delays or cancellations as schedules keep shifting.