A scenic view of aircraft flying overhead photographed on November 29, 2010 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a rare nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a "communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers," which is currently under investigation, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
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Friday afternoon, the FAA said in a post on X that there has been a "temporary telecommunications outage."
"Out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis," the post reads.
The outage hasn't been linked to a threat or attack, said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
"There is no indication, and we had no reason to believe as of right now that this was a threat to the United States," Mullin told reporters at the White House. "There's no reason for the public to be afraid or scared for your loved ones."
The U.S. last issued a ground stop of this scale in 2023, when all U.S. airports were shut down due to an outage in the NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) system, which alerts pilots and airports of real-time hazards.
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That outage prompted fears of a cyberattack, but the FAA later determined the issue was caused when contract workers inadvertently deleted critical files.
The telecommunication issue doesn't extend to the entire U.S., Mullin said. Without naming the regions in question, he stated, "there's two areas inside the United States that are still able to communicate just fine."
Mullin also said that other countries' aviation systems don't seem to be affected by the FAA outage.
The FAA has recently begun rolling out an AI-enhanced software tool known as the SMART system as part of its ambitious overhaul of the nation's air traffic control system. But Air Space Intelligence, the company that makes the tool, quickly dismissed speculation that its product could be connected to the flight disruptions.
"The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC," the company said on social media.
The nationwide ground stop has caused chaos in airports and headaches for travelers — many of whom are already too familiar with flight delays and cancelations during the holiday season.
At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Regina Harling said she waited hours — long past when her flight was supposed to depart — before she learned of the nationwide grounding by checking the news on her phone.
"There's still a sign right in front of me that says we're boarding in 16 minutes," she said.
Harling needed to travel last minute to San Diego for a family emergency. Stuck at the airport, she's thinking about how soon she can make it to her family, but she's not optimistic.
"I was just thinking to myself that it always feels like it's getting harder to travel than it used to be," she said.
Deepa Shivaram contributed to this report.
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