Departures are being released from San Francisco and Honolulu while the FAA's nationwide ground stop stays in force. This goes well beyond the single Etihad flight from Boston reported earlier.
San Francisco International Airport said on social media that all flights to Asia and Hawaii were cleared to depart as of 3pm PT on 13 November, the SF Chronicle reports. The paper says a United flight to Manila left at about 3.43pm PT.
Alaska Airlines said in a statement at 3pm PT that flights from the West Coast to Hawaii can continue and that international flights from Honolulu have been cleared to depart. The Hawaii Department of Transportation posted on X at 1.05pm HST:
Hawaiian/Alaska Airlines have confirmed all west coast flights will resume
The FAA said in an alert at about 6pm ET that the stop remains in effect, according to CNBC. The alert says flights will be released "through coordination with the air traffic control system command center" as en route facilities recover.
The FAA's earlier advisory said all departing traffic was to remain ground stopped until further notice. The new wording allows for a staged release, which is consistent with what the airport and airlines are reporting.
Fox News, citing Flightradar24 data, reports a small number of international departures from Boston Logan, including an ITA Airways flight to Rome and a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. Fox says all domestic departures there remain grounded.