FAA grounds all flights across the United States: nationwide stop over a communications failure

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday, halting all departing flights at every airport in the United States over a telecommunications failure in air traffic control.

The order took effect at 3:54 p.m. Eastern time “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” according to the FAA’s official advisory. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the problem affects all Air Route Traffic Control Centers nationwide and said agency technicians are working to resolve it.

Planes already in the air are being allowed to land, and international flights heading to the United States are being handled case by case. But no aircraft may take off until further notice: the official advisory lists 11:30 p.m. as its window, with no guarantee that operations will resume then.

In New York the impact is direct: JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports have all departures halted. At Newark, nearly an hour after the order, no airport-wide announcement had yet been made over the loudspeakers, and passengers crowded around gates trying to rebook. Nearly 7,000 flights nationwide were already delayed or canceled, according to Reuters, with cascading delays expected into Saturday.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there is no indication of an attack: “This isn’t another 9/11,” he said, explaining that flights were halted out of an abundance of caution while communications are restored. It is only the second nationwide ground stop since the September 11, 2001 attacks; the previous one came in January 2023 after a failure of the NOTAM system.

If you have a flight tonight, do not head to the airport without confirming with your airline first: check its app or website and wait for a rebooking notification.

Photo: Shutterstock / Skorzewiak

Source: USA Today and Secret NYC