Flights halted at Burlington airport and across US due to air traffic control communications problems

Updated at 10:20 p.m. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights in Vermont and nationwide for more than four hours Friday afternoon because of communications problems at regional air traffic control centers. The FAA lifted the ground stop about 8:20 p.m. An FAA notice said the ground stop was being imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” Federal officials have not indicated the stoppage was related to a hack or other nefarious activity. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a communications issue was affecting the 22 regional air traffic control centers directing planes en route between airports nationwide. He said FAA technicians are investigating. This was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that the last time had been after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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