US flight chaos: Thousands stranded as FAA halts take-offs nationwide – what we know so far

Air travel across the United States was thrown into disruption on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide halt to flight departures, citing a telecommunications outage affecting regional air traffic control centres.The unprecedented move grounded flights at airports across the country and disrupted travel plans for thousands of passengers, including people heading home, attending weddings and travelling for weekend events. The FAA said the restriction was imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety”.The ground stop was the first nationwide suspension of flights since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, and only the second such order since the September 11, 2001, attacks.Homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin said the outage appeared to be a telecommunications problem and that officials had no indication it was the result of an attack. However, the precise cause remained under investigation, with authorities examining the communications systems used by air traffic controllers.Here is what we know so far about the disruption, its possible cause and its impact on passengers.Also Read| Trump rules out cyberattack, AI as US probes nationwide flight disruptionWhy did the FAA ground flights across the USThe FAA ordered the nationwide ground stop after a communications problem affected the 22 regional air route traffic control centres responsible for directing aircraft travelling between airports.Transportation secretary Sean Duffy…