The Federal Aviation Administration rescinded the grounding order after a major telecommunications issue crippled communications at air traffic control facilities. The incident left tens of thousands of travelers stranded across the country and led to widespread airport chaos throughout Friday evening. It represents only the second time such a nationwide alert was issued since the 2001 terrorist attacks, echoing a two-hour Notice to Air Missions outage in January 2023. Homeland Security officials stressed that preliminary evidence points to a system failure rather than a deliberate national security threat.
Key points
Federal officials have allowed air travel to resume following the resolution of the sever…: Federal officials have allowed air travel to resume following the resolution of the severe telecommunications failure.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin affirmed there was no immediate evidence sug…: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin affirmed there was no immediate evidence suggesting the disruption was a nefarious attack.
Authorities are maintaining an open investigation into the incident and have not ruled ou…: Authorities are maintaining an open investigation into the incident and have not ruled out any potential causes yet.
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The rare nationwide ground stop order that sparked travel chaos was issued due to a communications problem affecting US air traffic control towers.
A US halt to airplane takeoffs that grounded thousands of flights has been cancelled, the Federal Aviation Administration, the country's national air regulator, said Friday (Nov 13) evening.
All flights in the US were grounded Friday, sparking travel chaos across the vast country, after what government officials said was a major communications outage, insisting it was not the result of any "nefarious attack."
The nationwide stop left tens of thousands of passengers in limbo, with some pulled off planes moments before departure by airline staff who appeared in the dark about unfolding events.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no sign of a threat to the United States.
"This isn't another 9/11," he said.
"There was no indication, as of yet, that this was a nefarious attack against us, it's just a telecommunication outage, as of right now," Mullin said, adding officials were "not ruling out anything at this point."
Singapore authorities dismantled a major transnational illicit finance network after an intensive nine-month probe targeting illicit overseas gambling wealth. Convicted syndicate figure Vang Shuiming maintained a polite demeanor while repeatedly deflecting inquiries regarding the origins of his multimillion-dollar luxury assets. The sweeping enforcement action triggered deportations, permanent re-entry bans for dozens of foreign nationals, and updated supervisory guidelines across the city-state's financial sector.
A temporary telecommunications outage prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to halt all domestic departures and delay incoming landings across the United States. The nationwide stop immediately cascaded internationally, stranding passengers scheduled to cross the Pacific from major Australian transport hubs. Although American regulators have since canceled the flight freeze, investigators are still working to determine what triggered the system failure.
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