US flights remain suspended after nationwide FAA ground stop over communication outage

Flights across the United States remained suspended on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop over communication problems at air traffic control centres, disrupting thousands of flights and leaving passengers stranded at airports.

The FAA has not indicated when the restrictions will be lifted. The agency said the ground stop was imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety”.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the communication issue affected all 22 regional air traffic control centres that direct planes travelling between airports across the country. FAA technicians were investigating the outage.

The disruption could affect around 11,000 flights carrying more than 1.5 million passengers scheduled to depart US airports after 4 pm Eastern on Friday, raising the possibility of further cancellations and diversions.

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The nationwide ground stop is the first since January 2023, when a malfunction in a key FAA computer system disrupted air travel. Before that, the last nationwide grounding was imposed following the September 11, 2001, attacks.

US flight disruption: What happened?

The FAA said passengers could expect airborne holding at airports across the National Airspace System because of equipment outages. International flights would be managed on a case-by-case basis.

United Airlines said flights already in the air would continue, but new domestic flights would not depart while the ground stop remained in place.

At least 600 flights had been diverted following the FAA's order, AP reported citing aviation analytics company Cirium. Several flights were redirected to Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Denver International Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Passengers at airports across the country faced delays and uncertainty as they waited for information about their flights.

US flight ground stop: No indication of cyberattack

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication that the outage was caused by an attack.

“There’s no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they're flying,” AP quoted Mullin as saying, and added that investigators were examining the telecommunications outage.

Officials were also looking at whether the disruption was linked to the FAA's nationwide rollout of a new artificial intelligence system designed to identify problems and suggest alternative routes for aircraft.

However, the system operates from a single location near Washington, DC, and sends recommendations to air traffic control centres.

FAA modernisation programme still incomplete

The outage has renewed attention on the ageing technology used by US air traffic controllers.

The government has been working to replace outdated systems since Congress approved $12.5 billion for the modernisation programme last year. The overhaul includes replacing copper wires with fibre-optic lines and upgrading radio systems at airports.

However, the work remains incomplete. Duffy has said another $30 billion will be required to finish the programme, while the White House has begun lobbying Congress for additional funding.

A similar communication outage at a regional air traffic control centre in September disrupted hundreds of flights across the Northeast.