FAA Lifts Ground Stop After 4-Hour Air Traffic Disruption
FAA resumes flights after 4-hour nationwide ground stop due to telecom outage, officials say no cyberattack involved.
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a rare nationwide ground stop on departing U.S. flights Friday evening after more than four hours, allowing operations to resume slowly following a telecommunications outage that snarled air travel coast to coast.
The FAA issued the order around 4 p.m. “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” directing all departing traffic to remain on the ground. Inbound international flights were handled case by case. The stoppage, which affected Air Route Traffic Control Centers, was lifted at approximately 8:15 p.m., Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
Duffy attributed the failure to decades-old, analog air traffic control technology. “Our routers actually got overloaded with data and … they started to give us inconsistency in the data from those routers. And because of that, we shut the system down,” he told reporters. He renewed calls for Congress to approve emergency funding — previously sought at more than $30 billion, now requested at $50 billion — to modernize hardware, software and telecommunications, warning that further disruptions are likely without upgrades. Duffy has long pushed for a full overhaul of the system after years of neglect, including a 2025 plan calling for new hardware, software, radios and radars. Recovery will be gradual as crews and aircraft are repositioned, though Duffy said operations should stabilize before the Thanksgiving travel period.
The nationwide ground stop lifted at 8:15pm ET. Here’s a breakdown of today’s timeline: – At 3:36 p.m. ET, @FAANews experienced telecommunications issues at facilities & TRACONs across the country – The FAA issued a ground stop out of an abundance of caution while 3,500+ planes were in the air – Pilots and air traffic controllers followed established procedures to safely land the aircraft, bringing the number in the airspace down to under 400 as of 8pm ET – The FAA confirms they did not lose all radar or telecom, and exceptions were made to allow critical medevac, life-saving cargo, and law enforcement flights to continue operating
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin repeatedly emphasized there was no indication of a cyberattack, terror threat or “nefarious act.” “There is no indication, as of yet, that this was a nefarious act against us. It was just a telecommunication outage, as of right now,” he said. Mullin stressed the public was never in danger, all flights were accounted for, and the action was taken “out of an abundance of caution.” He explicitly rejected comparisons to the Sept. 11 attacks and said the outage was unrelated to a separate major Microsoft disruption earlier in the week.
The disruption canceled more than 4,000 flights and delayed more than 10,000 others, according to FlightAware, stranding an estimated 1.5 million passengers, per Cirium. Major airports from New York and Chicago to Los Angeles and Atlanta saw long lines, canceled departures and baggage chaos. At Miami International Airport, travelers sat with luggage as they tried to determine their next flights. Congress previously provided $12.5 billion for modernization projects as the Trump administration has sought additional funding for a broader air travel overhaul.
This marked the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when an FAA Notice to Airmen system failure briefly halted departures. The only prior full nationwide ground stop occurred after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Airlines began resuming limited operations Friday night, with travelers advised to check directly with carriers for updated status as cascading delays are expected through the weekend. The FAA has also accelerated hiring of air traffic controllers, including a campaign targeting video gamers that helped bring in more than 2,000 candidates.
Source: Daily Caller
