FAA Ends Rare Nationwide Ground Stop After Telecom Failure Grounded Thousands

Overview

• The Federal Aviation Administration ordered all U.S. departures to remain grounded on Friday after technicians detected failures in communications serving regional air-traffic centers and approach controls.
• Eurocontrol halted European departures to the United States at the FAA's request, extending the disruption to international traffic and keeping inbound flights under case-by-case review.
• Flight-tracking services reported thousands of flights delayed or canceled; officials gave midrange counts in the several-thousand range and warned the backlog will take many hours to clear because aircraft and crews were displaced.
• After roughly four hours the FAA revoked the national ground stop and allowed a phased resumption of departures, but the agency said full recovery will be gradual and flights will restart in a prioritized, controlled manner.
• Federal investigators from DHS, NSA, CISA and other agencies say there is no confirmed evidence of a cyberattack so far, they are probing overloaded routers, switches and legacy copper links, and the episode has intensified White House and FAA calls for large new funding to modernize the air-traffic system.