FAA grounds all US flights due to air traffic control issue

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for all flights in the United States on Friday due to communication problems. Air space opened up again at about 8:15 p.m. Eastern, officials said in in a White House briefing Friday night. In a statement, the FAA said all flights were grounded “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an X post that a communications problem was affecting Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The stop is the most severe shutdown of air travel since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, according to reporting from The New York Times. “We have no reason to believe as of right now that this was a threat to the United States,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at the White House on Friday afternoon. “This was a telecommunication outage throughout FAA.

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