The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights across the United States on Friday afternoon after communication problems hit regional air traffic control centers. The order brought US aviation to a sudden halt and left airports across the country crowded with stranded passengers.
Officials said a communication issue affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers led to the order, and FAA technicians are investigating. The ground stop was imposed to protect passenger safety.
Aircraft already in the air when the system failed, reported to number 4,042, were given special clearances to land safely at the nearest airports. No new aircraft were allowed to take off. Air traffic control centers guide pilots, supply weather information and keep aircraft separated, so a fault in their communication systems can have serious safety consequences, which is why the FAA acted so firmly.
The disruption was heavy. More than 11,000 flights across the country were reportedly affected. Airlines cancelled over 1,000 flights outright, while about 10,000 more ran hours behind schedule. Domestic and international passengers were hit alike, and travellers with urgent business or connecting flights were left waiting at airports.
A nationwide ground stop is rare. The last one came in January 2023, when an outage in the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system disrupted the distribution of safety information to pilots.
FAA technical teams have begun an intensive investigation into the cause. Because such a large system failed all at once, questions arose over whether foreign involvement or hacking might be behind it. Homeland Security officials said there was no indication of an attack and described the incident as a telecommunications outage. The problem appears to stem from an internal technical fault, and engineers are working around the clock on repairs to restore the system.