US grounds all departing flights due to communication outage
Nearly 7,000 flights were disrupted after a communication issue impacted all Air Route Traffic Control Centres across the United States on Friday.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all departing flights across the United States on Friday following a communication outage at air traffic control centres, according to Moneycontrol.
Aviation tracker FlightAware reported that the ground stop disrupted nearly 7,000 flights. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated on X that the issue impacted all Air Route Traffic Control Centres.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Director Markwayne Mullin said preliminary findings pointed to a telecommunications failure. He told reporters there is no indication yet that the outage was a nefarious attack.
The DHS said initial investigations found no evidence of a cyberattack or deliberate interference. FAA technicians worked to identify and resolve the problem.
This is the third time all departing US flights have been halted. Previous shutdowns occurred on September 11, 2001, and in January 2023 following a pilot notification system malfunction.
The incident occurred as the FAA works to modernise air traffic management infrastructure. Last week, the agency announced that digital air traffic control towers began operations in Alaska and Florida.