Key takeaways:
- The FAA halted flights nationwide after a communications issue affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
- The FAA said every flight had been accounted for and international flights would be handled case by case.
- About 7,000 flights were delayed or canceled, Al Jazeera reported, citing FlightAware.
The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights at airports across the United States on Friday after a communications problem affected every Air Route Traffic Control Center, leaving thousands of flights delayed or canceled and no announced time for the ground stop to end.
“FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday afternoon. He described it as a “communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”
Shortly after 5 p.m. Eastern, the FAA called the problem a “temporary telecommunications outage.” In a statement reported by NPR, the agency said it had stopped flights as a precaution.
“Out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis,” the FAA said. The agency did not say when flights would resume.
About 7,000 flights had been delayed or canceled because of the stop, Al Jazeera reported, citing flight-tracking service FlightAware. That figure includes both delays and cancellations; the reports did not give separate totals for each. The FAA also did not provide an estimate of how long the disruption would last.
The halt is the first nationwide U.S. ground stop since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, according to Al Jazeera. Before that, the last nationwide stop followed the September 11, 2001, attacks, the outlet reported.
Friday’s outage comes as the FAA works to replace aging air traffic control infrastructure. Al Jazeera reported that the system has faced equipment failures, communications problems and a shortage of controllers. Congress approved $12.5 billion for the overhaul last year, and the FAA and White House asked lawmakers Friday for another $30.1 billion, according to the outlet.
Officials had not said what caused Friday’s telecommunications outage. Duffy said technicians were investigating, while the FAA said its decision to halt flights was made out of caution. Its statement offered no timetable for lifting the nationwide stop and said only that international flights would be handled individually.
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