The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a "communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers," according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Friday afternoon, Duffy said: "FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them."
Shortly after 5 p.m. ET, the FAA said in a post on X that there has been a "temporary telecommunications outage."
"Out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis," the post reads.
The outage hasn't been linked to a threat or attack, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
"There is no indication, and we had no reason to believe as of right now that this was a threat to the United States," Mullin told reporters at the White House. "There's no reason for the public to be afraid or scared for your loved ones."
The U.S. last issued a ground stop of this scale in 2023, when all U.S. airports were shut down due to an outage in the NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) system, which alerts pilots and airports of real-time hazards.
That outage prompted fears of a cyberattack, but the FAA later determined the issue was caused when contract workers inadvertently deleted critical files.
The FAA has recently begun rolling out an AI-enhanced software tool known as the SMART system as part of its ambitious overhaul of the nation's air traffic control system. But Air Space Intelligence, the company that makes the tool, quickly dismissed speculation that the its product could be connected to the flight disruptions.
"The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC," the company said on social media.
This is a developing story.
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