Nationwide FAA ground stop blamed on overloaded air traffic control systems

The Federal Aviation Administration imposed a nationwide ground stop on Friday that lasted about five hours, the longest such interruption in 25 years, after new equipment overwhelmed older air-traffic-control infrastructure, officials said. The shutdown halted most departures, affecting an estimated 11,000 scheduled flights and more than 1.5 million passengers.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin told reporters that more than 3,000 flights were safely landed and that there was no indication of a cyberattack, describing the incident as “mechanically driven.” He added that the FAA was installing new technology that was “overwhelming the older system.”

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said the FAA could not guarantee the problem would not recur and noted that about 3,500 aircraft were in the sky when the stop began, dropping to fewer than 400 shortly afterward. He said recovery would be gradual and that the system should be back to normal in time for the Thanksgiving travel period.

Cirium data showed at least 827 flights were diverted, with 670 returning to their origin airports and 157 rerouted to other airports such as Washington Dulles, Los Angeles International, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and Nashville. Airlines expected several days to reposition aircraft and crews.

The disruption also impacted sports teams, cargo operators and passengers. Duffy said NCAA teams would be prioritized over football games on Saturday and urged football teams to coordinate with the FAA. FedEx announced it was activating contingency plans to limit cargo delays.

Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said the nationwide loss of reliable controller-pilot communication forced the stop, noting that similar regional outages have occurred previously due to equipment failures.

The incident came a day after a widespread Microsoft Outlook outage, but both Microsoft and the federal government denied any connection. The National Weather Service also confirmed that weather radars remained fully operational.

Officials indicated that the FAA is working to restore full capacity and that the system’s upgrades will be reviewed to prevent future overloads.