FAA halts all US flights for nearly five hours over communications failure

The Federal Aviation Administration stopped every flight in the United States on Friday after a communications failure hit the nation's air traffic control system, according to reports published by Maryland Matters, the Oregon Capital Chronicle, the Idaho Capital Sun and the Virginia Mercury. The four outlets ran the same report.

Officials said at a White House briefing Friday night that airspace reopened at about 8:15 p.m. Eastern time. Maryland Matters put the length of the shutdown at almost five hours.

In a statement cited by the outlets, the FAA said it took the step for safety reasons and described the circumstances as extraordinary. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X that the communications problem was affecting Air Route Traffic Control Centers, the facilities that handle aircraft at high altitudes between airports.

The outlets cited The New York Times as reporting that the halt was the most severe interruption of U.S. air travel since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin spoke at the White House on Friday afternoon. "We have no reason to believe as of right now that this was a threat to the United States," he said, according to the reports.

Mullin described the problem as a telecommunications outage across the FAA. He said flights were grounded as a precaution and that every aircraft had been accounted for. He also said there was no sign the failure was tied to a widespread Microsoft outage earlier in the week.

Mullin called the situation unprecedented. He said it would take time to resolve and would not be fixed within an hour.

Officials have not identified a cause. The reports noted that the FAA recently expanded its use of an artificial intelligence tool that helps manage air traffic. Citing Gizmodo, the outlets said the agency has described the tool as one that only suggests routes and does not affect safety, while some Democrats have raised concerns about how it was rolled out.

Asked whether AI could have played a role, Mullin said no possibility could be ruled out yet, according to the reports.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and the ranking member of the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, said the ground stop "will warrant a thorough and complete investigation," the outlets reported.

The reports did not say how many flights or passengers were affected.

Compiled by True News from reporting by Maryland Matters, Oregon Capital Chronicle, Idaho Capital Sun and Virginia Mercury. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/1047