US FAA lifts nationwide grounding after communications outage, delays persist

The Federal Aviation Administration announced that the grounding of all flights across the United States has been lifted, allowing operations to resume around 12:30 pm AEDT. The interruption, triggered by an overload of network routers in the air-traffic communications system, led to more than 5,000 cancellations and nearly 10,000 delays, with ripple effects reported worldwide.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that no lives or aircraft were put at risk during the grounding and emphasized that the action was taken "out of an abundance of caution." > "There was never any lives at risk. There was no flights at risk. FAA was able to handle it. We did it out of an abundance of caution," he said.

Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said the government is working with airlines to expedite the resumption of services, but warned that it will "take some time to unwind" the backlog. He attributed the communications failure to routers becoming overwhelmed and noted that the United States relies on an outdated air-communications system that requires upgrading.

The FAA confirmed that a temporary telecommunications outage prompted the halt, stating that every flight had been accounted for and that international flights would be handled on a case-by-case basis. An airline source indicated the problem originated at Chicago Midway International Airport and spread nationwide, causing some airports to become saturated with grounded aircraft.

No evidence of a cyber-attack has been found, according to Department of Homeland Security officials, though the possibility has not been ruled out. Secretary Mullin said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the incident and that there was no indication of a hostile threat.

Airlines and travel agencies have warned passengers that delays are likely to continue for an extended period. Australian authorities advised travelers to monitor updates from their airlines and to limit contact with travel agents to reduce call volumes.

The grounding follows two previous national stoppages this century, one in 2023 due to a pilot-notification system failure and the post-9/11 shutdown in 2001.