The United States Federal Aviation Administration has issued a nationwide ground stop for all flights in the United States until further notice, “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”
This means that planes currently in the air may land, but those on the ground may not take off.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters Friday evening that there is currently no reason to suspect a national security threat is behind the communications outage affecting flights.
“There’s no reason for the public to be afraid or scared for their loved ones,” Mullin said. “This is not another 9/11,” he added. “This is a telecommunications outage; this is much different.”
Mullin said that it would “take some time” for the issue to be resolved and that flights in the air were being dealt with on a “case-by-case” basis.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote in a Friday post on X, “The @FAAnews 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.”
There are over 10,000 flights delayed and over 1,200 canceled within, into or out of the U.S. as of 5:30 p.m. ET, according to FlightAware.com, a live flight tracker website.
There were more than 30,000 departures and arrivals scheduled for the remainder of the day, according to flight tracking app Flighty, the New York Times reported.
Airlines for America, an industry trade organization representing major U.S. airlines, wrote in a post on X, “Safety is always our top priority.” It added that it’s in communication with the Department of Transportation and the FAA. The association encouraged travelers to be in touch with their airline carrier for “real-time updates.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois and a ranking member of an aviation subcommittee, called for an investigation into the nationwide ground stop. “The safety of our skies is built on redundancies,” she wrote on X in response to Duffy’s update. “Whatever led to the nationwide ground stop will warrant a thorough and complete investigation. As Aviation Subcommittee Ranking Member, I’ll be demanding answers from the FAA.”
A Yahoo reporter who is currently on a plane on the tarmac waiting to depart on a United Airlines flight from Los Angeles International Airport says her pilot said, “In a nationwide ground stop, FAA just released an advisory, and we are told that at this time the ground stop will last until 11 p.m. Eastern time.”
The pilot added, “What happened was a communications outage that started in Kansas City Center, which is responsible for the airspace above the middle of America, and it spread nationwide.”
The Yahoo reporter passed along an update received from United Airlines, which said, “Air traffic control is limiting the number of planes allowed to land and depart each hour in Los Angeles, affecting several flights. We’re monitoring the situation closely to get you to your destination as soon as possible.”
Nationwide ground stops are pretty rare. The last time such an event occurred was in January 2023, when a pilot notification system went down. Before then, a nationwide ground stop was issued following the September 11, 2001, attacks.
