The Utah Jazz is casting its net wide for international players. 

“We have scouts all over the world — almost every basketball country throughout the world,” Danny Ainge, the team’s CEO and governor, told CNBC’s “Halftime Report” on Friday.

The two-time champion of the National Basketball Association and former NBA All-Star highlighted having scouts in countries throughout South America, Europe and Asia, as well as every region in the U.S.

“It’s a worldwide sport, and we got to find them all,” he said.

His remarks come after the NBA announced in October that a record 125 international players — five of which were on the Utah Jazz — were on opening-night rosters for the 2023-24 season. Those players hailed from 40 countries and territories across six continents, with a record from Canada at 26 and France at 14.

All 30 NBA teams feature at least one international player this season.

International ticket sales also saw a 120% increase from last season, according to StubHub. Fans are traveling from a total of 92 countries to North American games, which is up from 68 countries last season.

Ainge joined the Utah Jazz as CEO in December 2021 after leading basketball operations for the Boston Celtics for 18 years.

Utah Jazz’s valuation currently sits at $3.09 billion, according to data from research firm Statista. This marks a 52.59% increase from last year and a 76.57% increase since the year Ainge joined the franchise.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday ordered a temporary grounding of dozens of Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for inspections, a day after a piece of the aircraft blew out in the middle of an Alaska Airlines flight.

Images and video of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 that were shared on social media showed a gaping hole on the side of the plane and passengers using oxygen masks before it returned to Portland shortly after taking off for Ontario, California, on Friday afternoon.

The FAA’s emergency airworthiness directive will affect about 171 planes worldwide and applies to U.S. airlines and carriers operating in U.S. territory, the agency said. Alaska and United Airlines said late Saturday that they were grounding their entire fleets of Boeing 737 Max 9s.

No serious injuries were reported on the flight, according to federal safety officials. There were 171 passengers and six crewmembers on board, Alaska Air said.

“Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB’s investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement.

Large-scale groundings of aircraft by the FAA or other aviation authorities are rare. The FAA has heavily scrutinized the Boeing 737 Max since two fatal crashes grounded the jetliner worldwide almost five years ago. Two other models of the Max, the smallest and largest version, have not yet been cleared by the agency to enter commercial service.

The section of the fuselage missing appeared to correspond to an exit not used by Alaska Airlines, or other carriers that don’t have high-density seating configurations, and was plugged.

The National Transportation Safety Board has started its investigation. Chair Jennifer Homendy, at a press briefing in Portland Saturday night, asked the public for help in finding the plane’s missing door.

Homendy said no passengers were seated at the seat closest to the panel or the middle seat in the row where the door blew out and added that it was fortunate that the plane was still climbing and not at cruising altitude when travelers and crew could have been standing or walking through the cabin.

“We could have ended up with something more tragic,” she said.

The incident was described as “an explosive decompression at the window exit,” according to Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the labor union that represents Alaska’s cabin crew and flight attendants at United, Spirit and other carriers.

Anthony Brickhouse, a professor of aerospace safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said such an incident is extremely rare.

“Rapid decompression is a serious matter,” he said. “To see a gaping hole in an aircraft is not something we typically see. In aviation safety, we would call this a structural failure.”

The incident is also a reminder to keep your seatbelt fastened when seated, he added.

“I always advise people on a commercial aircraft, keep your seatbelt on regardless of what the light says,” Brickhouse said.

Before the FAA issued its directive, Alaska Airlines earlier said it would ground its fleet of Boeing 737 Max 9 planes. On Saturday, the carrier said 18 of the planes “had in-depth and thorough plug door inspections performed as part of a recent heavy maintenance visit,” but later said it would temporarily ground them all.

“We are in touch with the FAA to determine what, if any, further work is required before these aircraft are returned to service,” Alaska said.

As of 7 p.m. ET, Alaska said it canceled 160 flights, affecting 23,000 customers.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to Portland on Saturday to investigate the incident.

United Airlines, the largest operator of the planes in the U.S., had prepared to ground dozens of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for inspections, CNBC reported earlier. The carrier said late Saturday that it had grounded its entire fleet of 79 Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft, after earlier saying 30 of the planes had already satisfied the FAA’s inspection requirement.

The FAA said the inspections will take between four and eight hours per plane.

The Boeing 737 Max 9 is a larger version of Boeing’s best-selling jetliner, the 737 Max 8. Max planes were grounded worldwide in 2019 after two fatal crashes within about five months of one another. The U.S. lifted its flight ban on the jets in late 2020 after software and training updates.

The Boeing 737 Max 9 has an emergency exit door cut behind the wings for use in dense seating cabin configurations, like those used by budget airlines, according to Flightradar24.

“The doors are not activated on Alaska Airlines aircraft and are permanently ‘plugged,'” Flightradar24 said.

Boeing didn’t comment beyond its statement when asked about the sealed emergency exit door. Spirit AeroSystems, which makes the fuselages for the planes, referred CNBC to Boeing when asked about the incident.

“Safety is our top priority and we deeply regret the impact this event has had on our customers and their passengers,” Boeing said in a statement on Saturday. “We agree with and fully support the FAA’s decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.”

The company said it is supporting the NTSB’s investigation.

There are 215 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes in service worldwide, according to aviation-data firm Cirium. In addition to United and Alaska Air, other operators include Aeromexico, Turkish Airlines, Icelandair and Panama’s Copa Airlines.

Southwest Airlines and American Airlines operate the smaller 737 Max 8.

Late last year, Boeing urged airlines to inspect aircraft for a “possible” loose bolt in the rudder control system, the latest in a series of manufacturing flaws on Boeing jets that have prompted additional inspections, and slowed deliveries of the jets.

Airlines have seen a drop in bookings in the weeks following the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and some expect it to cut into their future profits.

According to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys, international flight bookings were 20% below 2019 levels in the three weeks following the attack by the Palestinian militant group Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, and 5 percentage points below the period of three weeks prior to the attack.

The terrorist attack killed some 1,200 people and saw a further roughly 240 taken hostage, triggering the most ferocious Israeli response that the region has ever seen. Israel’s aerial bombing campaign and subsequent ground offensive in Gaza has killed more than 11,000 people, according to health authorities there.

In the days following the attack, major airlines suspended or reduced flights to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. But air travel demand to and from other countries and regions was noticeably affected, too.

In the three week period before Oct. 7, ticket issuance from the Middle East was just 3% below 2019 levels, according to ForwardKeys data, illustrating the steady recovery of the sector from the Covid-19 pandemic. In the three week period after Oct. 7, by contrast, ticket issuance from the Middle East was 12% lower than 2019 levels, marking a difference of 9 percentage points.

But the biggest drop in terms of international departures was in flight ticket issuance from the Americas, which was actually up 6% from 2019 levels in the three weeks before the attack, and fell to 4% below those levels in the three weeks after, totaling a drop of 10 percentage points.

International arrivals to the Middle East meanwhile plunged by 26 percentage points in that time frame, with the biggest drops by country being Israel, followed by Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Lebanon. ForwardKeys draws its data from the International Air Transport Association’s industry-wide ticketing database which includes major international carriers, but does not include budget airlines like easyJet or Ryanair.

Stateside, at least one major airline made a profit warning concerning the war.

United Airlines in mid-October said that pricier jet fuel and a halt to its Tel Aviv flights due the Israel-Hamas war would eat into its profits in the last three months of the year. United had more service to Israel than any of the U.S.-based airlines with links from Washington, D.C.; Newark, New Jersey; and San Francisco, accounting for 2% of its capacity.

The fourth-quarter guidance for United was “bleak and worse than our estimates,” Helane Becker, an airline analyst at TD Cowen, wrote in a note following the carrier’s earnings estimate. “Given the projections that this will be a long war we are looking at the lower end of the forecast range and assuming no service by year end.”

The United Arab Emirates’ national airline, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, continues flying to Israel. It began flying its Abu Dhabi-Tel Aviv route in April of 2021, roughly eight months after the signing of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and the UAE.

“It’s impacting,” Etihad CEO Antonoaldo Neves said of the Israel-Hamas war, speaking to CNBC’s Dan Murphy at the Dubai Airshow on Monday. “Our demand to Israel is still there. But it’s not as big as it was in the past.”

“We keep flying, very safe. I follow up every day, every day. And we just hope it gets over soon. For the sake of everyone involved in this conflict.”

“I’ll not tell you it’s not impacting … And when things are back to normal, I’m sure that everyone’s going to remember that Etihad was not driven only by profits,” Neves said.

“We have our obligation as a transportation company, to be there when we make money and when we make less money. So that’s the approach we take, as long as it’s safe, we’re going to keep flying.”

Dubai’s flagship Emirates Airline, meanwhile, was optimistic about future demand.

“As far as the business is concerned — look, we have been in a part of the world that has seen for the last 35 years a lot of geopolitical issues,” Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, told CNBC.

“I won’t be smug and say we’re impervious to issues, because this is a really difficult issue for the Middle East to deal with.”

“But as far as our bookings are concerned, they remain robust,” he said. “We will always get what we call a certain flakiness in the Asian markets where, you know, they get a little bit concerned … But generally, so far, so good, we’re looking very strong.”

Clark pointed to upcoming events that will bring visitors to Dubai like the COP28 climate summit in early December as well as Christmas and New Year.

In a demonstration of its long-term optimism, Emirates Airline on Monday kicked off the first major deal of the 2023 Dubai Airshow with an order for 95 Boeing aircraft at a value of $52 billion.

“A lot of other things are going on in Dubai and Dubai itself is hugely potent city now, global metropolis, which is bringing in business,” he said.

“So with all of that, notwithstanding the difficulties of the Middle East at the moment, I think we will be okay.”

— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.

Like hurricanes, blizzards or wildfires, Taylor Swift is now prompting an airline to waive ticket-change fees.

The popstar said she was postponing a show in Argentina’s capital scheduled for Friday until Sunday because of heavy rain, writing on X, the platform formerly called Twitter: “due to the weather being so truly chaotic it would be unsafe to try and put on this concert.”

The Chile account of LATAM Airlines, the largest carrier in South America, reached out to customers on X: “#AttentionSwifties: we know your planes changed so starting today we are updating our flexibility policy for those with flights from Buenos Aires” for Saturday or Sunday.

The Chie-based carrier said it is waiving both ticket-change fees and differences in fare if travelers can fly anytime until Nov. 17 after Swift’s show at Argentina’s largest stadium was postponed.

Some customers complained to LATAM on social media, however, that they were having trouble finding seats and that the carrier told them about the waiver too late. The airline didn’t immediately comment on whether it is adding additional flights.

Airlines routinely add extra flights for events like high-profile concerts, conferences like CES, or sports.

But a change fee waiver when a concert is canceled or is postponed is very unusual, industry executives told CNBC, and is also a sign of how much her tour drives bookings. While it might be a new era for airline waivers, The Eras Tour has impacted other industries like hotels.

A perennial favorite among holidaymakers, Greece consistently ranks among the top 10 vacation destinations in Europe.

But now it wants tourists to get to know lesser-known locations across its thousands of sprawling islands.

“We’re moving beyond sea and sun. We want to prolong the tourism season in both time and space,” Olympia Anastasopoulou, secretary-general for tourism policy and development at Greece’s Ministry of Tourism, told CNBC Travel.

For that, the country is investing in its more remote locations, including Syros, Amorgos and Milos, as part of its “All you want is Greece” campaign.

To ease overtourism, popular hot spots such as Mykonos and Santorini are being repositioned as shoulder season destinations.

“It’s our goal for those islands to expand more in seasonality, too. We would like it for the tourism flows to be expanded in other months,” said Eleni Mitraki, director of tourism promotion at the Greek National Tourism Organization, noting the season could run March through November.

The plans coincide with the expansion of direct flights from the United States to Greece in March 2023.

Currently, Germany and the U.K. represent Greece’s largest inbound tourism markets by revenue, followed by the United States, France and Italy. However, Anastasopoulou said further growth from other markets, most notably Canada and India, is expected.

Here are CNBC Travel’s top picks to get you off the beaten track in Greece.

Rock climbers’ paradise

Located within Greece’s Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea, Kalymnos is famous for its sponge-diving — underwater diving to collect natural sponges from the seabed — which brought considerable wealth and recognition to the island in the previous century.

More recently, the island has become a world-renowned location for rock climbers, with more than 3,000 climbing routes spanning the numerous crags, caves and overhangs of its rugged landscape.

Kalymnos’ tourism season peaks in the fall with the Kalymnos Climbing Festival. But adventure junkies can get their kicks year-round, with a host of other activities including scuba diving, hiking and boating.

How to get there: Kalymnos can be easily reached by boat from nearby Kos, with crossings taking 45 minutes by ferry and 25 minutes by speedboat. In high season, it’s also accessible by plane from Athens. 

Haven for history buffs

Ios, also known as Io or Nio, is located between Santorini and Naxos, and was once seen exclusively as a party destination. But the Cyclades island has revamped its image over recent years to embrace its historical and natural attributes.

Home to one of Greece’s most ancient archaeological settlements, the Skarkos monument, Ios also boasts a strong connection to the Greek epic poet, Homer, who is said to have favored the island and, potentially, ended his days there.

Alongside history, visitors to Ios can also explore its plentiful beaches, and hiking and diving spots, before tucking into some of the local cheeses for which the island is famed.

How to get there: There is no airport in Ios. The island can be accessed by ferry or speedboat from both Athens and the other Cyclades islands. It can also be reached by helicopter from Santorini.

Movie lovers’ delight

Skopelos became famous as the filming location for the hit musical rom-com “Mamma Mia,” and has since emerged as a popular destination for weddings, honeymoons and movie tours.

Part of the Skopelos archipelago in the northwest Aegean Sea, the island combines stunning beaches and picturesque villages with a host of diving, yachting and cycling routes.

Legend has it the island was founded by the son of the Greek god of wine. And though many of its vineyards were destroyed by pests in the 1940s, small-scale, domestic production continues to this day. Meanwhile, natively grown plums, almonds, chestnuts, figs, citrus fruits, olives adorn the local cuisine.

How to get there: Skopelos is reachable by ferry or speedboat from the port city of Volos on Greece’s mainland. Services run year-round, with additional routes from other islands added in high season.

Hiking retreat

One of biggest islands of the Cyclades and just two hours from the Greek mainland, mountainous Andros has a varied landscape of forests, waterfalls, beaches and local vegetation, making it ideal for an outdoor escape.

Visitors can explore the island via its large network of hiking trails, or try their hand at windsurfing or scuba diving, before sampling the local cuisine.

Arts and culture fans can check out Andros’ collection of monasteries, galleries and museums, including the Archaeological Museum of Andros and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

How to get there: There is no airport in Andros. The island can be reached by ferry from Rafina port on the outskirts of Athens.

Isle of innovation

One of the Dodecanese islands, Astypalea has a rich ancient history. But it is positioning itself firmly in the 21st century with the goal of becoming the first sustainable and smart island of the Mediterranean sea.

As part of a deal with the Greek government and Volkswagen, Astypalea plans to implement islandwide, zero-emission mobility by 2030, with traditional vehicle rentals to be replaced with electric cars, e-scooters and e-bikes. Elsewhere, charging points and renewable energy sources will also be added.

Tourists arriving on the so-called Butterfly Island can also enjoy its natural landscape, home to beautiful beaches, rocky hillsides and diverse flora and fauna, as well as its picturesque villages of bougainvillea-clad white houses.

How to get there: Astypalea is accessible from Athens by both ferry and plane.

Island-hopping

Surrounded by a necklace of 24 islets with dozens of blue-green beaches, Lipsi in the Dodecanese is considered the Polynesia of the Aegean Sea and an eco-paradise.

With a rich expanse of flora and fauna protected by the European Union, the island is home to diverse wildlife, including Mediterranean monk seals and sea turtles. Dolphins are also common in the area, and a new Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary for dolphins is set to open soon on the island.

Holidaymakers can enjoy days spent boating, diving, beach-dwelling and hiking, before tucking into seafood dishes and experiencing local festivals, such as August’s wine celebration.

How to get there: Lipsi is only accessible by ferry or speed boat, with regular services running from Athens and Leros.

Divers’ delight

Alonissos, part of the Sporades group of islands, is a diver’s paradise and the site of Greece’s first underwater museum. Featuring “Parthenon of the Wrecks,” one of the biggest Classical-era shipwrecks dating back to 425 B.C., the site offers recreational divers a unique insight into the region’s history.

The island is also home to the National Marine park of Alonissos and Northern Sporades, currently Europe’s largest marine protected area, giving visitors the opportunity to see a vast array of plants and animals.

Kayaking, hiking and cycling are among the other activities available on the island, while museums and a local theater group showcase the island’s arts and culture scene.

How to get there: Alonissos can be accessed either by plane or by ferry from the ports of Volos, Agios Konstantinos and Kimi.

For the past year, it’s been harder and more expensive for Russians to travel abroad.

But some say that’s only the beginning of their concerns.

With anti-Russian sentiment on the rise, several Russian citizens spoke to CNBC Travel about their worries, how they’re treated when they travel, and what goes through their minds when people ask where they are from.

Julia Azarova, an independent journalist, said she left Russia a year ago. She said she fled Moscow for Istanbul after the invasion of Ukraine, before eventually settling in Lithuania.

“I had to leave my own country” or risk imprisonment, she said. “We had to pack our things in a day and go.”

Since then, Azarova said she’s been to Latvia twice, but she can’t go to Ukraine, where she has relatives. Her Russian friends have encountered problems getting into Poland, while her colleagues have been prevented from entering Georgia, the latter likely in a show of loyalty to Putin, she said.

Anna — who asked that we not use her real name over fears of “unpredictable consequences” — has the opposite problem. She said she’s in Moscow and doesn’t know when she will leave Russia again.

“Normally, I’d visit one to two countries a year,” she said. But now “traveling somewhere abroad seems like something unimaginable and impossible.”

Traveling, especially airfare, is very expensive, she said. Also, “Russian credit cards are blocked almost everywhere and buying foreign currency in Russia is so difficult.”

As for when she plans to go abroad again: “Probably when the war ends.”

Another Russian traveler, Lana, also asked that we not use her full name over fears of retaliation from Russian authorities. She lives in Asia and was planning to go home last summer for the first time since the pandemic started, she said.

But she canceled the trip after the invasion of Ukraine, she said, despite her parents not having seen her child in years.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” she said, adding that the risk of border closures or flight cancellations prompted her decision.

Rather than returning home, Lana traveled around Asia — to places like Thailand and Japan.

It’s “really hard to go abroad and meet new people thinking that you are the person from Russia — and how people will respond to that,” Lana said.  

She said when people ask where’s she from, there’s an “anticipation moment” that didn’t exist when she was young.

“Back then, when you say ‘I’m from Russia,’ the first thing people say is vodka, bears, Matryoshka [dolls], and all that innocent stuff,” she said. “You kind of feel like yeah, I’m from Russia — it’s cool.”

But it’s different now, she said. While traveling, she braced for negative comments. Yet so far none have come, she said. Rather, people have offered words of sympathy and concern, she said.

Lana may have been lucky. A wave of anger at Russia has blanketed parts of the world, from Europe to the United States, in incidents which the Russian government has used to stoke nationalism in the country.

“Not everyone understands that the government, the country and the people, it’s not always the same thing,” she said. “Let’s say you’re from … [the United] States, I mean, you might not support Trump after all, right? The same thing’s been happening in Russia for the past, probably, 10 years.” 

Anna said telling new people she’s Russian has “always been tricky, to be honest, even before the war.”

She said there’s a “prejudice and stigma about Russians,” describing instances in Polish restaurants where waitstaff refused to serve her after spotting her Russian guidebook. After that, she began hiding her nationality more, she said.

She said being asked where she’s from will be even harder once she starts traveling abroad again.

“After the war, I guess, I’ll be afraid of the question even more, because I’ll instantly feel the need to start explaining myself, fearing a negative and aggressive reaction.”

Azarova agreed it’s hard to meet foreigners, especially as she wrestles with her own feelings of “guilt.”

“You understand that you personally haven’t done anything wrong, but you can’t get rid of the idea that something’s wrong with you personally,” she said.

Since leaving Russia, Azarova said she’s not had any confrontations over her nationality. However, like Anna, she said she often feels the need to quickly say how she feels about the war.

She said her conversations with foreigners have helped her because “you get the feeling that nobody’s blaming you.”

Now she’s now no longer afraid to say she’s Russian, she said, namely because she can’t do anything about it.  

“But I can do something to show the face of Russians who are not for Putin, who are not for that war … and who tried to do something to stop it.”

She now covers the war for the news channel Khodorkovsky Live, a YouTube channel backed by the exiled Russian businessman and prominent Kremlin critic, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

“People are just people,” Lana said, “regardless of nationality, your passport, your citizenship. I’ve lived in a few countries. I’ve traveled a lot. From my experience, most of the time stereotypes just don’t stand.”

Anna said she wants the world to know that not all Russians are “crazy scary.” Rather, they are friendly, warm-hearted, ready to help and eager to be good friends, she said.

“Many of us are trying hard to change something but people should know that it is difficult and very dangerous indeed to do … People should know, that behind scary news about Russia, there are millions of Russians, who suffer, who are scared and who are trapped, and who pray for peace every single day.”

Azarova said she wishes the world understood that sanctioning the Russian people, as opposed to the government and ruling elite, won’t influence Putin.

That’s because their opinions don’t affect change, like in a democracy, since “Putin is not an elected leader. This is a very, very important point. He hasn’t been elected in a fair and free election,” she said.

Plus, Putin doesn’t care what happens to Russian people, she said — their difficulties won’t change anything.

What will? “If Putin is removed by force” she said. But “Russian people don’t have … weapons.”

Lana said she’s fearful about the future.  

“I don’t … see a way out of the current situation. I’m afraid that Russia is … stuck,” she said.

Azarova said that, although she misses Moscow tremendously, she is slowly accepting she may never live there again.

“Never mind all the problems … it’s still a very beautiful city with all my memories of my childhood,” she said.

But she said, her home, the way she knew it, “no longer exists.”   

Southwest Airlines confirmed on Thursday that it expects to run a normal schedule on Friday after the carrier’s systemwide meltdown stranded hundreds of thousands of customers over the Christmas holiday week and drew scrutiny from Washington.

The carrier cancelled 39 flights scheduled for Friday, according to FlightAware, down from more than 2,300 Thursday.

The low-cost airline slashed schedules over the last several days, flying just about one-third of its planned flights, in an desperate effort to stabilize its operation, getting planes and crews where they needed to go.

“We have all hands on deck and tested solutions in place to support the restored operation. I’m confident, but I’m also cautious,” CEO Bob Jordan said in a staff memo Thursday.

The airline also resumed selling tickets for Friday, after a pause it implemented before it stabilized its schedule, Jordan said.

“With another holiday weekend full of important connections for our valued Customers and Employees, we are eager to return to a state of normalcy,” the airline said in a statement on its website.

Southwest’s operation unraveled over the holiday week after brutal winter weather swept across the U.S. When most airlines had recovered at the end of last week, Southwest’s problems worsened. Executives cited challenges including overloaded internal scheduling platforms crucial to getting crews matched with flights.

“We have much work ahead of us, including investing in new solutions to manage wide-scale disruptions,” Southwest said in its statement.

Southwest shares were up more than 4% in afternoon trading on Thursday, paring its losses this week to 7%, which is still far more than its close rivals.

Some competitors said they would cap fares for certain cities to help stranded Southwest passengers reach their destinations without surging prices, but fare searches on Thursday still returned some flights for $600 or more.

The moves came after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged carriers to cap fares.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Taylor Swift responded to her fans Friday after Live Nation‘s Ticketmaster said a general public sale of tickets to the superstar’s “Eras” tour would be canceled because there weren’t enough tickets to meet high demand.

“It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse,” Swift wrote in a message posted on Instagram. She did not mention Live Nation or Ticketmaster in her statement.

“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could. It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them,” she wrote.

Separately, The New York Times reported Friday that Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into parent company Live Nation’s practices. The probe predates the Swift ticket sale this week, according to the report. The Justice Department declined to comment.

Live Nation, Ticketmaster and the company’s largest shareholder, Liberty Media, also didn’t immediately comment about Swift’s Friday statement or the Times’ report on a Justice Department investigation.

Ticketmaster announced the cancellation hours after Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei defended Ticketmaster on Thursday. Maffei blamed a surge of demand from 14 million users, including bots, for site disruptions and slow queues for presales earlier this week.

“It’s a function of Taylor Swift. The site was supposed to open up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans,” Maffei told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “We had 14 million people hit the site, including bots, which are not supposed to be there.”

Maffei said Ticketmaster sold more than 2 million tickets on Tuesday and demand for Swift “could have filled 900 stadiums.”

The “Eras” tour is set to kick off in March 17 in Glendale, Arizona.

Read Swift’s full statement:

-CNBC’s Sarah Whitten contributed to this article.