🔴 US flight authority orders national ground stop over air traffic control 'communication issue'

On Friday, November 13, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide order to ground all departing flights following a communication failure that disrupted air traffic control operations. The order, implemented as a safety measure, followed a previous halt at Chicago airports due to similar issues. The FAA reported problems at all 22 regional air traffic control centers, which manage flights between airports, but the exact technical cause of the disruption was not immediately clear.

Aircraft already in the air were permitted to continue their journeys and land. For flights already in transit, the FAA allowed them to proceed to their destinations. UAE flights, specifically, have not been officially confirmed as affected by the nationwide halt, which primarily impacted flights awaiting departure from U.S. airports.

Airlines such as Emirates and Etihad have not reported any cancellations or delays due to this incident, suggesting that, at present, UAE flights have not been impacted. Passengers traveling between the UAE and the U.S. are advised to check their flight status directly with their respective airlines before heading to the airport.

This situation echoes a similar nationwide grounding in January 2023, when a malfunction in the Notice to Air Missions system caused a brief disruption that lasted under two hours. Despite the ongoing communication issues, the FAA has not directly linked Friday’s failure to the 2023 incident. The FAA's decision to ground flights has reignited discussions about the aging infrastructure of the U.S. air traffic control system, with Congress having approved $12.5 billion last year for modernization efforts and the FAA and White House seeking an additional $30.1 billion to address further needs.