US flight departures disrupted as FAA orders nationwide ground stop
A telecommunications outage affecting regional air traffic control centres has grounded flights and stranded thousands of passengers across the United States.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide halt to flight departures on Friday due to a telecommunications outage affecting 22 regional air route traffic control centres, according to the Times of India.
The ground stop, which was imposed for safety reasons, resulted in nearly 481 flights being cancelled or failing to depart within 180 minutes of their scheduled time as of 4.40 pm Eastern time.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the outage appeared to be a telecommunications problem and that there was no indication it was the result of a nefarious attack.
An airline source cited by CNN told the broadcaster that the FAA attributed the outage to a problem with network routers, which may have originated at Chicago Midway International Airport.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said FAA technicians were investigating the issue, while the agency described the decision as a safety measure.
The FAA's ground stop order remained in effect until at least 11 pm Eastern time on Friday, with officials not providing a definite timeline for restoring normal operations.
