The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop Friday afternoon, halting all departing flights at airports across the United States after what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described as a communication issue impacting every Air Route Traffic Control Center in the country.
The ground stop took effect at 2:54 p.m. Central Time and was listed with an estimated end time of 10 p.m. CT, with an effective period extending to 10:30 p.m., according to the FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command Center advisory. The advisory stated the action was taken "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety" and that "all departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice." Inbound international flights, the FAA said, would be managed on a case-by-case basis.
"The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers," Duffy posted on X. "FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them."
The FAA, in a statement to Newsweek, confirmed the same: the ground stop followed "communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers," and technicians were investigating.
What Officials Are Saying — and Not Saying
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that there was "no prior indication, there was no indication as of yet, that this was a nefarious attack against us. It's just a telecommunications outage as of right now." He added that "there is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones, that they're flying," and said the priority was getting airborne flights on the ground, restoring communications, and returning to normal operations.
But Mullin also said President Donald Trump has been briefed and that officials "are not ruling out anything at this point" regarding the cause. Fox News reported on X that DHS is "not ruling out" a cyberattack. Asked whether the outage could be connected to the FAA's reported rollout of a new artificial intelligence air traffic control system, Mullin said federal agencies are examining that possibility, according to News9.com.
Officials from multiple agencies told NBC News there is no indication the incident was caused by malicious activity and that they have not seen the type of activity normally associated with a cyberattack — while cautioning that the assessment could change as investigators learn more.
Aviation journalist Anna Giaritelli reported on X that the FAA halted departures nationwide due to a "rolling frequency outage," citing an FAA source who provided documentation and called the situation "absolutely unheard of." That characterization has not been confirmed by the agency.
Hundreds of Thousands Stranded
When the alert was issued, 4,042 flights headed for U.S. destinations were airborne, according to Flightradar24. A top aviation expert estimated that anywhere from 300,000 to 400,000 passengers were stranded several hours into the stop, NBC News reported. By 6 p.m., Reagan Washington National Airport was at capacity and Chicago O'Hare was nearing capacity — meaning there was no place for planes to park, a source with knowledge told NBC.
The disruption rippled outward: Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma City reported 41 delays and one cancellation as of about 3:45 p.m., according to FlightAware, and Tulsa International Airport confirmed at least one aircraft turned around and four others did not take off as scheduled. San Francisco International Airport said Pacific-bound flights, including to Hawaii and Asia, were cleared to depart.
This is only the third nationwide ground stop in U.S. history — the first came after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and the second in January 2023 after a pilot alert system failure.
House Homeland Security Committee Republicans, chaired by Rep. Andrew Garbarino (NY-2), issued a statement reacting to the situation Friday evening, with multiple parts of the federal government monitoring the ground stop.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what Americans are watching tonight. The most complex air traffic system on earth just went dark from coast to coast because of a "communication issue" — and the people in charge cannot yet tell you what caused it. That is not a comforting sentence, and it should not be treated as one.
Mullin says there's no indication of a nefarious attack, and we hope that holds. But "no indication as of yet" is not the same as "we know." The fact that DHS is explicitly not ruling out a cyberattack — and that officials are examining whether the FAA's new AI air traffic system played a role — tells you the government itself doesn't have the answer yet. Patriots deserve straight talk, not a rush to reassure.
This is the third nationwide ground stop in American history, and two of the three have happened in the last four years. Meanwhile, our adversaries in Beijing and Tehran are watching how fast the world's largest economy can be brought to a standstill by a single point of failure. The Trump administration should demand a full, public accounting of what failed, who knew, and why 400,000 Americans paid the price. Anything less is unacceptable.
