All flights in the United States have been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration.
It cited ‘extraordinary circumstances and reasons of safety’ as the basis for doing so, leaving at least 3,100 airborne aircraft bound for US airports, which may land, and no additional aircraft permitted to take off.
Initial figures from FlightAware suggest 7,000 flights have been affected. The number is expected to rise.
The warning did not instantly contain any further information but stated that ‘all departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice’.
‘Inbound international flights will be managed on a case-by-case basis,’ the announcement added.
The alert first appeared on the FAA website but was soon removed.
It was later reported that a communications problem has impacted all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, but the FBI reportedly does not believe this resulted from a cyberattack or act of criminality.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy added in a social media post: ‘FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.’
The US FAA Chicago Center said loss of ‘all frequencies and automation for handoff and strips’ was behind the stop.
No indication has been given around when the ground stop may be lifted, but Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the incident would ‘take some time’ to rectify.
‘It isn’t just going to be resolved and turned around within the hour. It’s going to take some time,’ he told reporters.
‘But everyone is safe. The flights are accounted for. There should be no fear in the public.’
He added that ‘there was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us’, telling the public, ‘There’s no need to be concerned about your loved ones.’
‘As we investigate what caused this, you’ve always got to assume, with as many cyber attacks that take place, but that’s not known.
‘First thing, we’re going to restore communications, then get normal operations.’
He reiterated that this is ‘not a safety issue’ or ‘another 9/11’, and there is ‘no reason’ to connect the outage to Friday’s Microsoft blackout.
The National Weather Service also said it is aware of the national radar outage, while United Airlines, one of the best-known airlines in the States, said ‘already airborne’ flights would ‘continue’.
‘New domestic flights will not depart while the FAA ground stop remains in place,’ a statement read. ‘United will work with our customers to get them to their destinations once this issue is resolved.’
In the immediate aftermath, flight cancellations hit far and wide, including in the UK.
10.30pm flight from Heathrow to JFK, New York, was cancelled in minutes, and a spokesman for Manchester Airport confirmed three US-bound flights scheduled to leave on Saturday morning – all operated by Virgin Atlantic – are likely to be affected.
Nationwide ground stops are extremely rare and are only issued in times of emergency.
There has not been a nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when the Notice to Air Missions system, which notifies pilots of potential dangers, went down. All domestic departures were halted for less than two hours.
Prior to that, the last ground stop was issued after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
The unprecedented move comes after Congress approved $12.5billion last year to fix the FAA’s ageing communications system.
And only hours ago, the FAA and the White House asked Congress for an additional $30.1bn for airport and system upgrades.
Russell Vought, White House Office of Management and Budget director, and Transportation Secretary Duffy said in a joint statement that the investment is ‘critical to complete the modernisation of our national airspace’.
They said the billions would go towards ‘delivering a resilient telecommunications backbone for air traffic controllers, modern hardware and software, state-of-the-art control towers, and world-class airport infrastructure’.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
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