US halts all flights nationwide after air traffic equipment outage
The US Federal Aviation Administration grounded all departing flights across the country on Friday afternoon, citing an equipment outage and safety reasons. The cause remains unclear.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US agency that oversees civil aviation, grounded all flights across the United States on Friday, November 13, citing "extraordinary circumstances" and safety concerns. The order applies to every aircraft due to depart from American airports, so a large number of travellers could be affected.
The FAA's website gave the cause as an "equipment outage". The site itself was briefly down and displayed a notice about technical difficulties. An alert from the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) said aircraft cannot take off from departure gates and that all departing flights must stay on the ground "until further notice". Inbound international flights will be handled case by case. The alert gave no further explanation.
An FAA spokesperson told TechCrunch the ground stop followed communication issues affecting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers, which manage airspace across the country.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X that FAA technicians are investigating. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, speaking to reporters outside the White House, said there was no indication yet of a nefarious act, but warned that recovery would take some time.
The outage came in the same week the administration introduced an AI-powered tool for air traffic controllers, intended to save flight time and fuel costs. It is unclear whether the two are connected.
