FAA failure causes US ground stop

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop for all US flights on Friday evening after a communication issue affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said technicians were investigating the problem, which was the first nationwide stop since January 2023. Flights already in the air were allowed to land, while international flights would be handled case by case.

The FAA lifted the stop hours later as departures resumed, after testing its systems. Flight trackers reported more than 10,000 delays and over 2,000 cancellations, while FlightAware later said more than 8,860 flights were cancelled on Friday and around 2,650 more on Saturday so far. Officials blamed outdated air traffic control systems and said there was no sign of a cyberattack.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin were scheduled to hold a White House briefing. They called for a $50 billion investment to update the United States' air traffic control systems, saying the systems were incredibly old and accusing Congress of delaying improvements. Air Space Intelligence, the company behind the FAA's SMART AI tool, denied any link to the stop, a position Duffy confirmed.