US halts departures nationwide after air traffic control communications problems

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered departing flights to remain on the ground across the US on Friday, 13 November, after communications problems affected regional air traffic control centres. The agency cited extraordinary circumstances and safety.

An air traffic advisory quoted by Axios said incoming international flights would be handled case by case. The stop did not require planes already in the air to land immediately, aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo told the Associated Press.

Nieuws.nl reported, citing ANP and Bloomberg, that the FBI believed the disruption did not appear to have been caused by a cyberattack. The bureau was investigating whether a software update had caused the outage, the report said. The cause has not been established.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin separately said there was no indication yet of a malicious attack.

It was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, according to the Associated Press. At the time of the reports, there was no timetable for restarting departures.