US FAA lifts nationwide ground stop of flights
Washington: The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a nationwide ground stop that had halted departures at US airports after a communications failure, though airlines warned that disruption and cancellations could continue.
“The FAA Command Center nationwide ground stop has been cancelled,” the agency said in an advisory issued late Friday night.
The cancellation followed an afternoon order holding departing aircraft across the country after a communications problem affected air traffic operations. The notice announcing the cancellation did not specify the cause of the failure or say that airline schedules had returned to normal.
Earlier in the evening, the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center said the ground stop remained in effect across a large portion of the country, although some coastal facilities had been able to release international departures.
In an update, American Airlines said some flights from certain airports were beginning to receive clearance to depart. At that point, most departures remained paused, and the airline expected further disruption, including unavoidable cancellations.
American advised customers to check their flight status and review its travel alert for options. Its warning was issued before the FAA’s cancellation advisory.
Air India had also warned of possible disruption to flights to and from the United States. The airline asked passengers to check the latest status of their flights before heading to the airport.
The FAA’s initial nationwide advisory was signed at 3:54 p.m. Eastern, with an event start time of 3:53 p.m. A later advisory identified the reason for the restrictions as a communications failure.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters earlier that officials had acted as a precaution following a telecommunications outage affecting the FAA.
“There is no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack,” he said at the time. That preliminary assessment did not rule out a cyberattack.
American said aircraft already in the air could continue to their destinations. The FAA’s initial order said inbound international flights would be managed individually.
A ground stop holds aircraft at their departure airports rather than ordering every aircraft already airborne to land immediately. Lifting such a restriction does not by itself mean delays and cancellations have ended.