FAA grounds all US flights in second nationwide stop since 9/11

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights across the United States Friday afternoon in what officials described as an extraordinary telecommunications disruption tied to regional air traffic control centres. The action marks the second nationwide ground stop since the September 11 attacks.

By early evening, aviation firms reported about 600 flights had been diverted. Of those, 496 returned to their original airports and 104 were redirected to alternate destinations. Major hubs including Chicago O’Hare, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington Reagan National saw aircraft rerouted.

Officials noted that about 11,000 flights were scheduled to depart after 4 pm Eastern, carrying more than 1.5 million passengers, suggesting further cancellations and diversions were likely as operations remained suspended. A limited number of international flights were still planned to depart from coastal hubs later Friday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA was investigating the communication issue affecting 22 regional centres that guide planes between airports. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin indicated there was no indication of a nefarious attack and described the outage as telecommunications-related for the time being.

There was no set timeline for resuming normal operations. Mullin also said investigators would probe whether the outage was connected to the FAA’s nationwide rollout of a new AI system designed to spot problems and reroute planes, noting the system currently provides recommendations from a central location near Washington.

Passengers reported limited information at some airports, with travelers learning of the stop from departure screens and expressing concern about missed connections and plans. Some travelers, already relocated or rerouted, began considering weekend accommodations or alternative arrangements.