The FAA on Friday issued a rare nationwide ground stop on all domestic flights after what appears to be a major outage affecting its air communications system.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that, for now, the Trump administration does not suspect any nefarious causes, such as a terrorist or cyber attack, and instead described the situation as a “telecommunication outage.”
It was unclear when flights would resume, or how long the order would remain in effect, but shares in airlines dropped. American Airlines shares dropped more than 2% in after-hours trading, while United shares fell 1.6%.
This is only the third time the agency has ever issued such an order. The most recent was in January 2023; before that, air traffic was halted nationwide on Sept. 11, 2001. The order has caused major disruptions at airports across the country, and airlines are bracing for massive delays.
— Jake Angelo
