Flights across the United States were grounded Friday afternoon after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a rare nationwide ground stop following a major air traffic control communications failure.
The disruption affected all 22 regional air traffic control centers, prompting federal officials to halt departures for safety reasons. Aircraft already in the air were generally permitted to land, although inbound international flights were being handled on a case-by-case basis.
The ground stop began shortly before 4 p.m. By 4:45 p.m., more than 7,800 flights had been delayed nationwide and about 350 canceled, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said FAA technicians were investigating the outage. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin attributed the disruption to a telecommunications failure but said the cause remained unknown and warned that repairs could take time.
“This isn’t going to just be resolved and turned around within the hour,” Mullin said.
The nationwide order also affected departures from St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Travelers were advised to check with their airlines for updated flight information.
Friday’s ground stop was only the third nationwide shutdown of its kind in recent history. Previous ground stops occurred after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and during an FAA computer system outage in January 2023.