US grounds flights nationwide after air traffic control communications outage
WASHINGTON: The US Federal Aviation Administration grounded all departing flights nationwide on Friday after a communications failure hit air traffic control centers across the country, disrupting thousands of flights. The announcement means planes in the air may land, but those on the ground cannot take off. Flight tracking service FlightAware said nearly 7,000 flights were delayed or cancelled…
On Friday, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all departing flights nationwide due to a communications failure affecting air traffic control centers. This resulted in thousands of flights being delayed or cancelled, with FlightAware reporting nearly 7,000 disruptions. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the ground stop, explaining that FAA technicians were investigating the issue.
The FAA has been struggling with equipment failures, communication problems, and a shortage of controllers while it attempts to replace aging infrastructure. Congress had approved $12.5 billion for these improvements the previous year, and the FAA and White House requested an additional $30.1 billion. Prior to the nationwide ground stop, the FAA had temporarily halted traffic in Chicago due to similar issues.
The agency stated that all departing flights should remain on the ground until further notice. The FAA said it would manage international flights on a case-by-case basis. This is the second nationwide ground stop for departures since the September 11, 2001 attacks; the previous one occurred in January 2023, during which the FAA paused all domestic departures for less than two hours.
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