US grounds all flights until further notice due to air traffic control communications problems

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights across the United States on Friday due to communications problems at air traffic control centres. The FAA has not indicated when the ground stop might be lifted.

The FAA said the ground stop was imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety”.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the issue affected the 22 regional air traffic control centres that direct planes travelling between airports across the US.


The FAA has issued a nationwide ground stop for all US airports because of a communication issue affecting all air route traffic control centers, Duffy said on Friday.

FAA technicians are investigating the issue, he added.

The FAA said users could expect airborne holding at airports across the National Airspace System due to equipment outages. International flights will be managed on a case-by-case basis.

United Airlines said flights that were already airborne would continue. However, new domestic flights would not depart while the FAA ground stop remained in place.

Nav Canada said it was monitoring the FAA ground stop but that its systems were operating normally and there was no impact on its operations.

The nationwide ground stop is the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that, the last nationwide ground stop was issued after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The US government has been working to replace outdated technology used by air traffic controllers since Congress approved $12.5 billion for the project last year.

Miles of old copper wires have been replaced with fibre-optic lines, while old radio systems are gradually being replaced at airports across the country.

However, the overhaul is still incomplete. Duffy has said another $30 billion will be needed to finish the work, and the White House has begun lobbying Congress to approve the funding.