Ground Stop Ordered for All Airports Nationwide
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday for all all airlines and all airports (including those in our area) for what they're describing as "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety."
The FAA issued the stop at 3:54 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon. It is unclear how long it will be in effect, according to reports from ABC and other outlets.
“Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” the advisory states, “all airports are ground stopped.”
The FAA issued the group stop due to a communications issues that impacted all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, according to a post from Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy on social media. He said that FAA technicians are currently investigating the issue.
Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis, the FAA said.
In the moments leading up to the alert from the FAA airports across the country including Chicago O'Hare and Newark, NJ were reporting delays.
Ground stops of the entire airspace are very rare. The most recent one took place in Janaury 2023. That's when a pilot notification system went down resulting in a ground stop. Prior to that one was issued after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
This is a developing story.
