A Communications Outage Stranded Passengers Before FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop for Flights

Flights Resume After Halt

The FAA canceled the nationwide ground stop after pausing departing flights across the country. Airlines began restoring some flights once the order was lifted. Passengers at Denver airport were taken off their flights with their suitcases. Some started rebooking for the next day, while many waited for updates; a Southwest flight attendant said the airline expected news within 30 minutes.

Officials Cite Aging Equipment

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said old equipment was overloaded, contributing to instability in radar communications. He warned reporters that the system would continue to fail without repairs and pressed Congress for funding.

Congress approved $12.5 billion last year for upgrades to aging air traffic facilities and technology. Duffy has called that amount a down payment and said he wants another $50 billion, delivered as emergency funding before the end of the year.

Cyberattack Still Under Review

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said officials had no indication that a cyberattack caused the communications failures, but they had not ruled it out. He also emphasized that lives were never in danger.

Pilots and air traffic controllers continued to communicate during the outage, although not all channels were available. A spokesperson for the pilots said it was not a complete blackout of communications or radar.

A Rare Nationwide Disruption

Friday’s ground stop was the third nationwide stop issued by the FAA this century and the second-longest, after the shutdown on Sept. 11, 2001. The previous nationwide stop came on Jan. 11, 2023, after a system that alerts pilots to safety issues went down; it lasted about 90 minutes.

FlightRadar24 reported more than 1,000 aircraft bound for U.S. airports were airborne during Friday’s stop. Flighty reported more than 30,000 departures and arrivals were scheduled for the rest of the day.

Holiday Travel Adds Pressure

The Transportation Security Administration screened nearly 2.5 million people on Thursday. More than 2 million people typically pass through airport security checkpoints on an average day.