FAA halts flights nationwide after telecommunications outage disrupts US air traffic control

Detailed summary

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop at US airports Friday following a telecommunications outage ...

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop at US airports Friday following a telecommunications outage that disrupted air traffic control systems, delaying or canceling more than 10,000 flights.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the communication issue affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers across the country, prompting the agency to suspend flights as technicians investigated the problem.

“FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” Duffy said, adding that the agency would provide updates as more information became available.

The FAA later confirmed that a temporary telecommunications outage had prompted the nationwide suspension as a precautionary measure.

“There has been a temporary telecommunications outage — out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted,” the agency said.

“Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis,” it added.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said authorities had found no evidence suggesting the disruption was caused by a deliberate attack, although investigators had not ruled out a cyberattack.

“There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack. It is just a telecommunication outage as of right now. Everybody’s safe,” Mullin told reporters.

He reassured the public that there was no immediate reason for concern about passengers aboard aircraft.

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