FAA Issues Rare Nationwide Ground Stop Following Communication Issue

On Friday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop that halted departures from all US airports. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy cited a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that the outage was not prompted by a security threat or nefarious attack. This marks only the third nationwide ground stop in the history of the FAA, following similar actions taken on September 11, 2001, and during a system outage in January 2023. Officials warned that the disruption is likely to be lengthy as staff troubleshoot the problem, though incoming international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis.