Air travelers faced a rough travel day on Friday — and possibly beyond — after an extremely rare nationwide ground stop threatened to upernd flight schedules across the United States.
All departing flights in the U.S.were grounded indefinitely Friday afternoon on orders from the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency cited “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety” in an advisory, only the third time since 9/11 that a ground stop affecting the entire nation has been issued.
A subsequent statement from the FAA attributed the move to “communication issues impacting multiple Air Traffic Control Centers” and said FAA technicians "are investigating the issue.”
During the last nationwide groud stop in January 2023, more than 10,000 flights were canceled in the fallout of a computer outage at the FAA.
It remains to be seen how badly flights will be affected this time around, dependant largely on how long it takes to resolve the issue and for flights to resume. Still, travelers scheduled to fly Friday and Saturday should brace for significant disruptions.
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
