US flight departures halted nationwide following FAA communications outage
Thousands of passengers were stranded after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a ground stop due to a telecommunications problem.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide halt to flight departures on Friday after a telecommunications outage affected 22 regional air traffic control centres, according to the Times of India.
The ground stop, which was implemented for safety reasons, prevented aircraft from taking off while allowing planes already in the air to land. This was the first nationwide suspension of flights since January 2023.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated there was no evidence of a hostile act or a national security threat. He noted that the issue appeared to be a telecommunications problem and that all passengers remained safe.
US President Donald Trump said the disruption was probably not the result of artificial intelligence or a cyberattack. While authorities are investigating, an airline source told CNN that the outage may have been caused by network router issues originating at Chicago Midway International Airport.
The outage has caused significant travel delays, with aviation analytics company Cirium reporting that nearly 481 flights were cancelled or delayed by more than 180 minutes as of 4.40 pm Eastern time on Friday.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that FAA technicians are investigating the matter. The ground stop will remain in place until the agency determines that flight operations can safely resume.
