The Federal Aviation Administration paused domestic departures citing safety needs, while managing inbound international flights on a case-by-case basis. Because arriving planes could not turn over gate space to departing aircraft, hubs like Reagan Washington National reached capacity within hours. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin attributed the disruption to a telecommunications outage rather than malicious activity. Officials also clarified that the incident has no apparent link to the recent Microsoft outage.
Key points
Homeland Security officials attributed the nationwide halt to a telecommunications outage…: Homeland Security officials attributed the nationwide halt to a telecommunications outage with no current signs of cyberattacks.
Major airports experienced severe congestion and potential flight diversions due to aircr…: Major airports experienced severe congestion and potential flight diversions due to aircraft occupying gates without departing.
Vendor Air Space Intelligence confirmed that its SMART air traffic control software was n…: Vendor Air Space Intelligence confirmed that its SMART air traffic control software was not the cause of the disruption.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
Much of the air traffic across the U.S. was suddenly shut down Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”
The unexpected and highly unusual alert, which was issued at 3:54 p.m. ET, contained no other information beyond stating that “all departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice.”
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“Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis,” the FAA said.
When the FAA issued the alert, 4,042 flights headed for U.S. destinations were airborne, according to Flightradar24, a Swedish service that displays real-time aircraft flight tracking information.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was “no indication as of yet” that there was anything “nefarious” that caused the ground stop. He said it was the result of a telecommunications outage “as of now.”
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