FAA: Airplane departures can resume following nationwide ground stop
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Aviation Administration says airplane departures can resume after the agency lifted a nationwide ground stop caused by communications problems.
The FAA had grounded all flights nationwide Friday afternoon, causing hundreds of flights to be diverted. Officials cited “extraordinary circumstances” caused by communications problems at regional air traffic control centers.
The nationwide ground stop was the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, and the second since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The nation’s top homeland security official attributed the problem to a telecommunications outage and said there was no indication the communications failure was related to a cyberattack. Trump administration officials blamed ‘overloaded,’ ‘outdated’ systems.
The consequences were profound, disrupting potentially thousands of planned flights through at least late Friday night and upending travel plans for passengers.
“It’s frustrating. This certainly sounds like it’s going to be more than the usual run-of-the-mill delay. I look forward to finding out why,” said Jeff Dubner, a Washington attorney whose Alaska Airlines flight home from Los Angeles was already half an hour late and taxiing to the runway when the plane came to a halt.
Friday’s restrictions were imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” according to an FAA notice. The agency was investigating a communication issue affecting the 22 regional air traffic control centers that direct planes en route between airports nationwide, said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
International flights were being handled on a case-by-case basis, according to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, with some seen taking off Friday evening. Meanwhile, some flights within Alaska and Hawaii were not impacted, Alaska Airlines said.