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A nationwide ground stop has been issued for flights across the United States following serious communications issues affecting air traffic control systems. Here’s everything we know so far.
Flights already in the air are being permitted to land, but all domestic ground departures have been halted. According to FlightRadar, arrivals are continuing, while international departures are being assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Why have flights in the US been grounded?
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the ground stop following a system-wide failure involving Air Route Traffic Control Centres.
In a post on X, Duffy said: “FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
The FAA has attributed the nationwide disruption to “extraordinary circumstances”, but has yet to disclose further details about the incident.
The Department of Homeland Security has also said there is currently no indication that the communications failure was caused by foul play.
At this stage, the exact cause of the failure has not been specified. Further updates are expected as the FAA continues to investigate the communications failure.
When was the last time this happened?
A nationwide ground stop of this scale is an extremely rare occurrence in US aviation history.
It is understood to be only the third time such an order has been issued nationwide. The first occurred following the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, while the second took place in January 2023 after the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system suffered an outage.
What does this mean for travellers?
The ground stop is expected to cause widespread disruption across the US aviation network, with delays and cancellations likely to have knock-on effects throughout the day.
For Australian travellers flying to the United States, airports are monitoring the situation and advising passengers to check directly with their airlines.
Sydney Airport said it was monitoring the situation closely, but there was currently no impact to its operations.
“Passengers travelling to or via the United States should check with their airline for the latest information regarding their flight,” a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, US airlines have warned passengers to expect disruptions.
United Airlines confirmed that flights already airborne would continue to their destinations, but new domestic departures would remain grounded while the FAA order was in place.
“United will work with our customers to get them to their destinations once this issue is resolved,” it said.
American Airlines also confirmed that aircraft already in the air could continue to their destinations, but warned that disruption to its schedule could continue throughout the day, depending on how long the nationwide ground stop remains in place.
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