FAA nationwide ground stop disrupts US airports before being lifted

Air travel across the United States was thrown into disorder on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration halted all flights. According to The Guardian, travellers in airports nationwide were left in limbo, and some were told their trips had been cancelled after they had already boarded.

The agency imposed the halt on Friday afternoon. An FAA notice pointed to trouble with communications at its regional air traffic control facilities. Roughly four hours later, the agency issued an advisory that brought the halt to an end.

Read also: US flights grounded nationwide after communications outage

Passengers left waiting

At John F Kennedy airport in New York, travellers saw their journeys scrapped, in some cases after they had taken their seats. Steve Honberger was travelling back to his home in Oregon with his spouse and child. He said his aircraft was about to leave when the halt was announced.

Honberger later described crew members who seemed unsure what to do and preferred to delay decisions for as long as they could. His aircraft stayed parked at the gate for roughly 100 minutes before the group asked to leave the plane and find new bookings.

Other travellers described confusion. Rashid Kahn, who was headed to Miami, said he had learned about the halt from news coverage. His airline had suggested he might depart at 10 or 11pm.

Larson Welsh, flying from Paris to Las Vegas, said a kiosk listed a 3am departure, yet staff at the counter had no information. Several passengers said they received little clear guidance during the hours of disruption.

Later in the day, international departures began to board, and passengers at the gates broke into applause. An airline representative noted that only overseas services were moving at that point.

Scale of the disruption

The effect on travellers was large. FlightAware counted 10,343 delays touching US flights so far, along with 1,479 cancellations. Flightradar24 reported that more than 1,000 aircraft had been heading to the US when the halt was declared.

Sports teams were also hit. Squads from the NBA, NHL and several college programmes found themselves stuck while racing to their venues ahead of a heavy weekend schedule. Referees usually travel the day before games, and it was unclear whether they could arrive in time.

Why the halt stands out

Only two nationwide halts of this kind had been ordered before. The first came after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, and the second followed a communications failure in January 2023.

Many travellers said they were irritated but tried to stay calm. Honberger said his family counted themselves fortunate to have arranged a hotel for the night, while others remained uncertain about when they would leave. He noted that some people were still stuck on the tarmac.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• The Guardian: ‘It’s frustrating’: chaos at US airports as stoppage grinds travel plans to a halt

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