More than 4,700 flights were canceled and 10,000 delayed across the United States on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop affecting all airports in the country.
The grounding order, which triggered the longest nationwide aviation shutdown since the September 11, 2001, attacks, was lifted after nearly four hours.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the ground stop was imposed after a communication issue disrupted air traffic control operations nationwide.
"The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following 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," Duffy stated.
The FAA also confirmed in a post on X that a temporary telecommunications outage had led to the grounding of flights.
"There has been a temporary telecommunications outage - 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," it said.
According to flight-tracking website Flightradar24, around 4,042 flights were airborne and heading towards US airports when the ground stop order was issued.
Quoting aviation experts, analysts said it could take airlines several days to restore their schedules following the nationwide grounding.
The Department of Homeland Security said there were no indications that the outage was caused by a cyberattack. Speaking to reporters, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin assured the public that all flights had been accounted for and passengers were safe, while cautioning that resolving the disruption could take time.
In January 2023, the FAA issued a similar nationwide ground stop, halting domestic departures for nearly 90 minutes.
