US lifts nationwide ground stop for airports hours after halting all departures

Over 3,500 flights were canceled and more than 10,000 flights within, into, or out of the United States were delayed according to FlightAware. With approximately 11,000 flights scheduled to depart from US airports after 4 p.m. local time, additional cancellations were anticipated.

Technical outage causes disruption

The FAA attributed the ground stop to "extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety," citing a temporary telecommunication outage. The agency emphasized that every flight had been accounted for and international flights would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Officials rule out security threat

US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed there was no indication of an attack against the country. "This is a telecommunications outage," he stated. "All the flights are accounted for. Everybody's safe. There's no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they're flying."

International impact and response

Eurocontrol suspended all flights departing for US airports from its 42 member states following the FAA's request. Canada implemented traffic management measures at major airports including Toronto Pearson, Montreal-Trudeau, Calgary and Vancouver to safely manage traffic volumes.

The disruption occurred a day after Transportation Secretary Duffy requested $30 billion from Congress to upgrade the US Air Traffic Control System. This marks the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, with the previous one occurring after the September 11, 2001 attacks.