FAA grounds US flights nationwide after ‘communication issue’

The United States has grounded flights across the country after a “communication issue” impacted traffic control centres, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. “FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them,” Duffy wrote on social media. The FAA said in a post on X that there had been a “temporary telecommunications outage” and that, as a precaution, all flights were being halted.

International flights would be handled case by case, it added. Some 4,042 flights were in the air, heading to US airports, when the ground stop was ordered, according to the tracking site Flightradar24. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters there was no indication that the ground stop was triggered by a threat to the US. “Everybody’s safe.

The flights are accounted for,” he said. “This is not another 9/11.” Asked whether a planned rollout of a new AI tool meant to help air traffic controllers could be to blame, Mullin said officials had not ruled it out.