FAA halts flights at all US airports: Communications failure cited

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a 'ground stop' at all airports, holding every flight awaiting departure on the ground until further notice. According to TRT Haber, citing Reuters, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the decision was taken because of a communications problem affecting all air traffic control centers (Air Route Traffic Control Centers).

In its official statement, the FAA described the measure as having been initiated 'due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons.' While aircraft already in flight were allowed to continue to their destinations, it was stated that flights heading to the US from abroad will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Duffy announced that FAA technicians are examining the problem and that they will continue to keep the public informed about developments.

Frequency outages were also reported in some parts of the country. There is no additional information in the wire reports regarding the cause of the outage or the duration of the measure.

The last nationwide ground stop across the US occurred in January 2023, when the NOTAM system that sends notices to pilots went down. The ground stop before that was ordered after the September 11, 2001 attacks.