FAA orders rare nationwide ground stop due to ‘extraordinary circumstances’

Sec. Sean Duffy said the ground stop was due to a communications issue that impacted all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for departing flights on Friday afternoon, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”

In a post on X, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote, “The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”

On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated “all the flights that are currently in the air work,” while assuring there was “no fear” for the public at large.

“This isn’t another 9/11,” Mullin said. “I just can’t repeat that enough. People are making that assumption because that’s the last time we had a nationwide ground stoppage. This is a telecommunication outage. There’s still planes landing, and so there’s still communications going on. Out of an abundance of caution is what is the reason why we decided to ground everything.”

Mullin did not give a timeline for when flights would resume.

Government officials have been working to overhaul the outdated technology air traffic controllers rely on. Last July, Congress approved a $12.5 billion package for upgrades in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump. However, according to Duffy, the $12.5 billion figure isn’t enough.

On Wednesday, Duffy told reporters the White House was lobbying Congress for $30 billion to secure air traffic control upgrades and that he met with Trump to discuss the matter.

“The president’s been supportive,” Duffy said. “We have communication going … where the White House is asking for the $30 billion.”

Ground stops are extremely rare. The most notable nationwide ground stop came after the September 11 attacks, as all civilian air traffic across United States airspace was paused and all airborne flights were ordered to land at the closest available airport.

Before Friday, the most recent nationwide ground stop came in January 2023 when the FAA cited a failure in the Notice to Air Missions system. That ground stop resulted in more than 10,000 flights being delayed and lasted nearly two hours before flights resumed. At the time, the FAA and the White House confirmed there was “no evidence of a cyberattack, and it was ultimately blamed on a corrupted file.