Federal Aviation Administration officials lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon after a telecommunications outage disrupted radar and communications at air‑traffic control centers. The order, issued just before 1 p.m. Eastern, grounded all departing flights across the United States for several hours.
Local impact on Los Angeles airports
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Hollywood Burbank Airport, Long Beach Airport, John Wayne Airport, Ontario International Airport and San Bernardino International Airport all saw flights suspended. While the FAA announced the order was lifted before 5:30 p.m., passengers were warned that delays and cancellations would continue into the weekend as airlines and airport staff work to unwind the backlog.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters that the resumption of airspace at 8:15 p.m. Eastern does not mean every flight will take off immediately. “It’s going to be slow,” he said, noting that the ability to depart depends on the availability of pilots, flight attendants and crew members.
Duffy explained that the outage stemmed from older routers becoming overloaded, causing inconsistent data in radar and communications systems. “I have already replaced some of those switches with President Trump, and our new IP switches did not go down. It’s our old hardware,” he added, emphasizing that the centers are now operating properly.
Officials assure safety
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reiterated that there was no evidence of a cyber‑attack and that the grounding was an “abundance of caution.” He stressed that no lives were at risk and that the FAA accounted for every flight, handling international flights on a case‑by‑case basis while the order was in effect.
Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) across the country, including the facility in Palmdale, manage high‑altitude aircraft communications once a plane reaches about 16,000 feet. Former military pilot Kurt Driskill explained that these centers are critical for nationwide air travel and that the outage affected high‑altitude communications.
Airlines respond
American Airlines said it is focused on operating as many remaining flights as possible tonight and positioning for a strong recovery tomorrow. JetBlue announced the cancellation of all remaining flights this evening, except for Europe‑bound departures from JFK and Boston, and offered fee waivers for customers needing to change plans. Delta indicated that it is safely resuming operations now that the ground stop has ended.
Travelers such as two LAX passengers and NBC4 meteorologist Belen De Leon reported being caught mid‑flight or at the gate when the stop was ordered, leading to sudden de‑planing and gate changes.
Broader context
The last nationwide ground stop of this magnitude occurred after the September 11, 2001 attacks. A similar FAA grounding happened in January 2023 due to a failure in the Notice to Air Missions system.
President Donald Trump received regular updates on the situation, according to a senior White House official, while California Governor Gavin Newsom said state authorities are closely monitoring the FAA’s actions.
Car‑rental company Hertz reported an increase in one‑way rentals as travelers adjust their itineraries. The recent Microsoft 365 outage was not linked to the FAA’s ground stop, according to a company spokesperson.
Original reporting: NBC4 Los Angeles — read the source article.
