US grounds departing flights nationwide

US grounds departing flights nationwide

The FAA has ordered an emergency halt to all departures across the country, citing unspecified safety concerns
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a rare nationwide ground stop for all departing flights across the United States, citing unspecified safety concerns.
The emergency directive took effect at 3:54pm Eastern Time on Friday, with all departing aircraft instructed to remain on the ground until further notice.
According to the advisory, international flights arriving in the US are being handled on a case-by-case basis. The FAA has not specified how long the restrictions will remain in effect.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the nationwide ground stop was prompted by a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them, he wrote on X.
Preliminary reports suggest the disruption was not caused by a cyberattack, CNN reported, citing two law enforcement officials.
The last nationwide ground stop was ordered in January 2023 following a failure of the system that provides safety notices to pilots. The previous such shutdown occurred in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Similar technical failures have disrupted air travel worldwide this year. In September, a communications outage halted flights at major airports in the northeastern US, while a software malfunction caused widespread flight cancellations across Britain. Greece temporarily closed its airspace in January, and Italy halved its air traffic capacity following a technical failure in October.
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