On a Friday afternoon, an aging nation-wide machinery of air traffic control faltered, and for more than four hours the federal government held every American departure on the ground. The stop began around 3:36 p.m. Eastern, when radar and communications began to flicker across the air route centers, and it lifted after 8 p.m., leaving thousands of people in terminals to wait on an airline's word that the sky would open again. Officials blamed an overburdened system that many agree is decades past its time, and though a cyberattack was not dismissed, those closest to the investigation saw no s
FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop After Four Hours, but Cancellations and Delays Continue to Mount
Thousands of travelers were stranded, with hundreds of cancellations and delays at LaGuardia alone; a diabetic Canadian traveler reported lacking insulin.
"It's going to be slow," Duffy said of getting flights moving again.
Mark
Why does a four-hour pause matter so much?
Mimi
Because it hit every U.S. airport at once. Rosa at LaGuardia was told only to wait, and hundreds of flights there were canceled or delayed.
Mark
What actually failed?
Mimi
Duffy said radar and communications became intermittent starting at 3:36 p.m. Eastern, and the system was overloaded.
Luke
That's his account, though. The FAA said communication issues at the control centers, and no root cause has been published.
Mark
Was it a cyberattack?
Mimi
Senior officials said they don't believe so, and Trump said it didn't seem like one.
Luke
But the FAA hasn't ruled it out. "Doesn't seem" is not a finding.
Mark
Does the old-system argument hold up?
Mimi
Duffy and Cruz's committee both point to aging centers, and the committee says none has been built since LBJ.
Luke
Notice that's a policy case made right after the event. Whether age caused this outage is still unconfirmed.
Mark
And the human side?
Mimi
A diabetic Canadian traveler without insulin, rebooked to Tuesday. That's one traveler's report, but it shows how the delays compound.
Der Puls
- Radar and communications began failing across multiple air route centers, and within minutes the FAA froze departures at every U.S. airport.
- At LaGuardia alone, more than 260 flights were canceled and 600 delayed, while travelers waited with little more than the instruction to wait.
- A diabetic Canadian passenger stranded without his insulin turned the abstract disruption into a frightening personal emergency.
- Officials scrambled to reassure the public, denying software failure and cyberattack suspicion while the FAA works to find the cause.
- Airlines, airports, and rail operators prepared contingency plans, and recovery is expected to be slow as the backlog of flights clears through coordination.
On a Friday afternoon, an aging nation-wide machinery of air traffic control faltered, and for more than four hours the federal government held every American departure on the ground. The stop began around 3:36 p.m. Eastern, when radar and communications began to flicker across the air route centers, and it lifted after 8 p.m., leaving thousands of people in terminals to wait on an airline's word that the sky would open again. Officials blamed an overburdened system that many agree is decades past its time, and though a cyberattack was not dismissed, those closest to the investigation saw no sign of one. The episode is a quiet reminder of how much of ordinary life rests on infrastructure most travelers never think about until it stops.
At LaGuardia Airport on Friday evening, a passenger named Rosa was trying to get to Charlotte, North Carolina. Her airline had told her nothing beyond the instruction to wait, and when asked what she would do if she could not leave that night, she said she would sleep in the terminal. She was one of thousands caught when the Federal Aviation Administration halted departures at every U.S. airport.
The trouble began at 3:36 p.m. Eastern, when radar and communications systems across the country started to flicker. Shortly before 4 p.m., the FAA ordered a ground stop, holding departing traffic until further notice and handling inbound international flights case by case. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later said the airspace reopened after 8 p.m., but warned that getting flights moving would take time. "It's going to be slow," he said, urging travelers to check with their airlines. He called the nation's air traffic control system incredibly old and overloaded, noting that funding to update it has been requested for some time.
The human toll arrived quickly. At Reagan Washington National, a traveler in the airline industry suspected a technical failure in an antiquated system. At LaGuardia, a Canadian traveler with diabetes was left without his insulin after his Toronto flight was canceled and rebooked for Tuesday. Orlando, Nashville, and Pittsburgh each braced passengers in their own way, from hotel advice to exceptions for medical and military flights.
Officials insisted the public was never in danger and that all flights were accounted for. The FAA did not rule out a cyberattack, but senior officials said they saw nothing nefarious. Contractors and other technology companies denied any connection to their own systems. Nationwide stops are rare, and the last one came in January 2023 after a failure of a safety notification system. In the Senate, Ted Cruz used the moment to press for modernizing the air route centers, a push the FAA's findings and the clearing of the backlog will now test.
At LaGuardia Airport on Friday evening, a Frontier Airlines passenger named Rosa, trying to get to Charlotte, North Carolina, said the airline had told her nothing beyond the instruction to wait. Asked what she would do if she could not leave that night, she said she would sleep in the terminal. She was one of thousands of travelers caught when the Federal Aviation Administration halted departures at every U.S. airport.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said trouble began at 3:36 p.m. Eastern, when the country started to experience instability in its radar and communications systems. The FAA's ground stop followed just before 4 p.m., citing extraordinary circumstances and reasons of safety. Departing traffic was to remain held until further notice, and inbound international flights would be handled case by case. Speaking later in the White House briefing room, Duffy said the airspace had been reopened after 8 p.m., more than four hours later, but warned that getting flights moving would take time. "It's going to be slow," he said, and told travelers to check with their airlines.
Duffy described the problem as intermittent communication and intermittent radar, which is why the airspace was shut. He said communications were not lost entirely and that certain life-saving flights were allowed to continue. He called the nation's air traffic control system incredibly old and said it had been overloaded, adding that President Donald Trump has been asking for funding to update it. The FAA initially pointed to communication issues affecting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. It said technicians were investigating, and that claims of a software outage were false.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the public was never in danger and that all flights were accounted for. "This is not 9/11," he said, describing the event as a telecommunication outage and deferring to the FAA on details. The FAA said it had not ruled out a cyberattack, but senior officials told Fox News Digital they saw nothing nefarious and did not believe it was one. Trump told Fox News it did not seem like a cyberattack. Air Space Intelligence, the company contracted to oversee rollout of new AI air traffic control software, said the stop was not caused by its SMART system or its integration with the FAA. Microsoft, which had its own outage Thursday, said it had no indication of a connection, and the National Weather Service said its radars were working normally despite circulating outdated webpages claiming otherwise.
Nationwide stops are rare. The source describes this as the second since the September 11, 2001 attacks, when all U.S. airspace was closed. The most recent was January 11, 2023, after a failure of the FAA's NOTAM safety system, which caused thousands of delays and hundreds of cancellations. Right after Friday's alert, FlightRadar24 counted 3,100 flights inbound to U.S. airports; flights in the air are generally allowed to land during a stop.
The human toll showed up quickly. Jim Olson of Corus, stuck at Reagan Washington National, said the first notices were vague and caused real concern, though as someone in the airline industry he suspected a technical failure in an antiquated system. At LaGuardia, Fox News correspondent Bryan Llenas reported more than 260 cancellations and 600 delays. He spoke with two Canadian travelers whose Toronto flight was canceled and rebooked for Tuesday; one has diabetes and did not have his insulin. Llenas called it the domino effect of stacking delays.
Airports and carriers scrambled. Orlando said about 220 departures were scheduled from 3:30 p.m. to midnight. Nashville told passengers to get hotels because no end time was known. Pittsburgh said medical and military flights could still operate. American promised all hands on deck once the stop lifted, and JetBlue suspended departures and warned of delays and cancellations. FedEx prepared contingency plans, Amtrak reported higher-than-normal call volumes, and Enterprise cited higher-than-usual demand.
Politically, the Senate Commerce Committee, led by Ted Cruz, said the incident shows the need to modernize the centers, noting no new ARTCC has been built since Lyndon Johnson was president and that Cruz secured $1.9 billion in the Working Families Tax Cut Act to replace and consolidate them. What to watch next: the FAA's finding on the cause, and how long the backlog of cancellations takes to clear.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
We've opened up the airspace, but it's going to be slow. Check with your airline.— Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy
This is not 9/11.— DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin
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