The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday night that airplane departures can resume after the agency lifted a nationwide ground stop that Trump administration officials blamed on “overloaded,” “outdated” systems.
Even with the order being lifted, the airlines will not be able to return to normal operations immediately because so many of their planes and crews are out of position.
The FAA had grounded all flights nationwide Friday afternoon, causing hundreds of flights to be diverted. Officials cited “extraordinary circumstances” caused by communications problems at regional air traffic control centers.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that the introduction of some new technology into an old air traffic control system overwhelmed it.
The nationwide ground stop was the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, and the second since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
There was no indication the communications failure was related to a cyberattack. The consequences were profound, disrupting potentially thousands of planned flights through at least late Friday night and upending travel plans for passengers.
“It’s frustrating. This certainly sounds like it’s going to be more than the usual run-of-the-mill delay. I look forward to finding out why,” said Jeff Dubner, a Washington attorney whose Alaska Airlines flight home from Los Angeles was already half an hour late and taxiing to the runway when the plane came to a halt.
International flights were being handled on a case-by-case basis, according to Mullin, with some seen taking off Friday evening.
Top official says no sign yet of nefarious act
Asked whether Mullin could rule out a cyberattack or rogue artificial intelligence incident, he said: “There’s nothing completely certain right now. It doesn’t appear that way.” He said there are no “footprints” showing an attack and that it appears to be “mechanically driven,” adding that officials were still looking for the cause.
At least 827 flights were diverted so far as a result. As of 7:05 p.m. EST, 670 flights were sent back to the airport from where they originally took off, while 157 were redirected to a different airport, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company.
The airports where many of the flights ended up being diverted included Washington Dulles International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and Nashville International Airport.
Some 11,000 flights carrying more than 1.5 million passengers were scheduled to take off from airports in the U.S. after 4 p.m. EST, raising the likelihood of more cancelations and flight diversions.
At Chicago O’Hare Airport on Friday afternoon, travelers passing through security learned about the ground stop when they looked up at screens that showed flight delays across the board.
Some called friends or family members, debating whether to stay the night in Chicago or find another way to their destinations.
Amber McQuilkin, 27, sat on a bench, disappointed that she might miss a trip with friends to New York for the League of Legends world finals. Her friends, she said, had already arrived there.
“There’s not really any information being passed to me,” said the Seattle software engineer, who took a week of vacation for the trip. “I contemplated just abandoning the flight and driving, but then the more I thought about it, the more I’m like, that would be miserable.”
Austin Curtis and his wife were rethinking their trip from South Bend, Indiana, to a friend’s baby shower in Denver after getting delayed during a layover in Chicago.
They had boarded a flight to Denver from O’Hare International Airport when they were told to get off the plane.
“We did see them taking luggage off our plane and others, so we’re assuming it’s going to be a pretty substantial delay,” Curtis said.
They were unsure whether to get a hotel room or keep waiting out the delay at the airport. With care already in place for their two young children at home, they might stay the weekend in Chicago, he said.
Sports teams stranded and cargo flights delayed
NBA, NHL and college teams were left stranded as they tried to reach their destinations. Meanwhile, NFL teams were left to wonder whether the issue would be resolved in time to travel to their games this weekend.
Cargo flights were also delayed by the ground stop.
FedEx, the world’s largest cargo airline, said it is prepared to activate contingency plans to keep any possible disruptions at a minimum.
U.S. airlines move about 61,000 tons of goods – from letters to packages -- to and from more than 220 countries daily, according to the industry trade group Airlines for America.
Despite the nationwide FAA ground stop, SpaceX launched its Starship rocket from Texas on Friday afternoon on its latest test flight.
The government has been working to overhaul outdated technology
Mullin had said investigators will look at whether there is any link to the FAA's nationwide rollout of a new artificial intelligence system to help identify problems and reroute planes. But that system operates out of one location near Washington, D.C., and just sends recommendations to the air traffic control centers.
The government has been working to overhaul the outdated technology that air traffic controllers rely on since Congress approved $12.5 billion for the project last year. Miles of old copper wires have been replaced with fiber optic lines and old radio systems are gradually being replaced at airports across the country.
But much work remains. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said that another $30 billion will be needed to complete the work, and the White House has begun lobbying Congress to approve it.
The problem appeared similar to a regional air traffic control communication outage in September that snarled hundreds of flights across the Northeast, aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said, except this time on a nationwide scale. It may be linked to the outdated technology used by air traffic controllers.
“If you don’t have that ability, whether it’s because the old wires that they have are just run down or for whatever reason, you’ve got to stop airplanes on the ground,” said Arroyo, who is a former United Airlines pilot. “And not put them in the air where you’re going to risk not being able to communicate with them.”
Friday’s ground stop was different than the one after Sept. 11 because planes were not being told to land immediately and pilots likely were able to communicate with ground controllers at airports, Arroyo said.
