The Federal Aviation Administration halted all departures across the United States on Friday following a telecommunications outage at air traffic control centres.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop across the United States on Friday, marking only the second such occurrence since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. According to the Times of India, the halt lasted for more than four hours due to communications failures affecting several air traffic control centres.
The disruption was triggered by a telecommunications outage at multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centres. The FAA stated the decision to suspend departures was made out of an abundance of caution while technicians investigated the issue. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that the communication problem was affecting 22 regional centres responsible for guiding aircraft.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that there was no indication the incident posed a threat to the country. Mullin ruled out a cyberattack, stating the disruption appeared to be mechanically driven. He noted that investigators would look into whether the outage was linked to the rollout of a new artificial intelligence system used for rerouting planes.
The outage caused significant travel chaos, with more than 10,000 flights delayed or cancelled. Aviation data firm Cirium reported that approximately 11,000 flights were scheduled to depart after 4 pm ET on Friday. Additionally, about 600 flights were diverted, including 104 that were sent to different airports such as Chicago O’Hare and Denver.
The FAA lifted the ground stop at 8:15 pm ET as facilities began to recover, but airlines warned that schedule disruptions could continue into the weekend. JetBlue Airways informed staff it would cancel remaining Friday flights, except for European routes, to reposition crew and aircraft.
