FAA halts flights across United States after telecommunications outage

The United States has temporarily grounded flights nationwide following a communication problem that affected air traffic control centres, according to US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. He said Federal Aviation Administration technicians were investigating the issue and promised further updates as they became available.

The FAA said on social media that a temporary telecommunications outage had occurred, prompting it to halt all flights as a precaution. International flights would be assessed individually rather than subject to a blanket stoppage, the agency said.

Tracking service FlightAware reported that around 7,000 flights had been delayed or cancelled as a result of the ground stop. Flightradar24 data indicated that 4,042 flights were already airborne and heading to US airports at the time the stoppage was ordered.

The disruption affected all 22 air route traffic control centres responsible for guiding aircraft across the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters there was no sign that the stoppage resulted from any threat to the country. He said all flights were accounted for and that passengers were safe, adding that the situation should not be compared to the September 11 attacks.