The FAA notice said the ground stop was being imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” But the government didn’t provide any details about the reason.
Nearly 500 flights were reported delayed, and five canceled, at Denver International Airport as of 2:45 p.m. Friday a flight tracking website
This is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023 when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that the last time had been after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In a post on X, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the nationwide outage was issued “following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”
“FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” Duffy said in the post. “We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
The government has been working to overhaul the outdated technology that air traffic controllers rely on since Congress approved $12.5 billion for the project last year. Miles of old copper wires have been replaced with fiber optic lines and old radio systems are gradually being replaced at airports across the country.
But much work remains. Duffy has said that another $30 billion will be needed to complete the work, and the White House has begun lobbying Congress to approve it.
