Passengers continue to face delays and cancellations after US lifts nationwide ground stop

US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the stoppage on what he called an "incredibly old" air traffic control system and warned that it would take time for normal operations to resume.

Passengers travelling to and from the United States continue to face delays and cancellations to flights on Saturday morning despite the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) having lifted a nationwide ground stop.

The rare order had been issued on Friday following a "telecommunications outage," with all flights halted across the country.

The FAA has since lifted the ground stop and said that some flight departures were resuming.

"Before clearing flights to resume, we thoroughly tested our systems to confirm they were stable and that operations remain reliable," the agency said, while advising travellers to contact airlines for flight updates.

US Transport Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the stoppage on what he called an "incredibly old" air traffic control system and warned that it would take time for normal operations to resume.

"At 8:15 (pm) tonight, eastern time, we've opened up the airspace. Now does that mean every flight is going to fly? Right now, it's going to be slow," he told reporters. "It depends on do we have crews available, do we have pilots and flight attendants available to fly your flight. We're going to try to move as many of those as we can tonight."

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