Ground stop ordered for all airports nationwide for 'reasons of safety'

The FAA ordered all departing flights across the United States to remain grounded at 3:54 p.m. ET Friday, citing extraordinary circumstances and safety. Inbound international flights were to be handled individually, while aircraft already airborne continued toward their destinations. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the disruption appeared to stem from a telecommunications outage and that there was no indication so far of malicious activity, though investigators had not ruled out possible causes. Officials said they saw no signs typically associated with a cyberattack and no connection to a Microsoft outage the previous day.

The shutdown quickly created a major operational crisis. More than 4,000 flights bound for U.S. destinations were airborne when the order came, and an aviation logistics expert estimated that 300,000 to 400,000 passengers could be stranded, with thousands of flights delayed. By early evening, Reagan National was at capacity and O’Hare was nearing it, raising the prospect of diversions and aircraft unable to find parking or gates. Safety experts said pilots have procedures and backup communications for outages, but warned that crowded airports and stalled ground operations would intensify the disruption. The nationwide halt was exceptionally rare: comparable shutdowns followed the Sept. 11 attacks and a 2023 failure in the FAA’s pilot-alert system.