FAA grounds all US flights over communications failure

FAA halts all flights nationwide

The FAA grounded every flight across the US on Friday afternoon due to what it called extraordinary circumstances. Passengers were deplaned and flights faced delays during the multi-hour ground stop.

Communications issue at control centres

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the ground stop was ordered because of a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The exact cause remained unclear initially.

Temporary telecommunications outage reported

The FAA said on Friday afternoon there had been a temporary telecommunications outage. Out of an abundance of caution, all flights were halted and every flight was accounted for.

“Out of an abundance of caution, all flights have been halted.”

SMART system rollout same day

The outage occurred the same day the FAA rolled out SMART, a new AI-powered tool designed to help manage air traffic. Air Space Intelligence said the disruption was not based on the SMART system.

Passengers stranded across major airports

Boarding areas filled up at airports nationwide. Passengers were asked to leave flights, crowded terminals, and scrambled to find luggage. Some settled in to spend the night at airports.

Planes parked back-to-back on tarmac

Photos show planes parked back-to-back at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Not all passengers were ordered to disembark; some remained sitting in unmoving planes during the ground stop.

Ground stop historically rare for FAA

National ground stops are historically rare for the FAA.In January 2023, the FAA halted flights because of an outage involving its pilot alert system.

Ground stop lifted after eight hours

The FAA ground stop was lifted at about 8:15 p.m.Eastern time on Friday after stranding travellers in airports and cancelling more than 6,600 flights.The hourslong closure will disrupt flights for the next few days.

Duffy blames 1980s infrastructure

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the US has old switches and old routers from the 1980s that became overloaded with data and failed, disrupting communications at air-route traffic-control centres.He demanded fifty billion dollars from Congress.

Airlines resume with continued disruptions

Major US carriers resumed operations Friday night but warned delays and cancellations would continue into the weekend as aircraft and crews were repositioned.Most carriers issued travel waivers allowing eligible passengers to change or rebook flights.