TORONTO — The FAA has issued orders for a nation-wide ground stop for all U.S. airports, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.”
According to multiple U.S. media outlets, the FAA’s advisory took effect at 3:54 p.m. ET today, and so far extends to 11:30 p.m. ET.
All departing aircraft are instructed to remained grounded until the FAA gives the all-clear. Flights already in the air are so far not ordered to land immediately.
Inbound international flights bound for the U.S. will be handled on a case-by-case basis, says the FAA.
One media update cited reports of multiple frequency outages at airports across the country.
At 4:18 p.m. ET, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted the following on X: “The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all air route traffic control centres. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
“I’M NOT GOING TO MAKE ASSUMPTIONS”
At 5:19 p.m. ET, The New York Times reported that the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, told reporters he did not know what caused what appears to be an outage impacting the nation’s ATC system. “Do we know what has caused it yet? No, we’re going to go through it. But I’m not going to make assumptions.”
Mullin added: “This isn’t another 9/11. This is a telecommunication outage.
“This isn’t going to just be resolved and turned around within the hour. This is going to take some time. But once again, everyone is safe. Flights are accounted for, and there should be no fear to the public at all.”
CANADIAN AIRPORTS POST UPDATES
Pearson Airport said flights between YYZ and the U.S. are currently impacted by the ground stop.
“There are currently no scheduled U.S.-bound departures or arrivals at this time,” said a post at TorontoPearson.com. “Passengers are advised to check directly with their airline for the latest flight information before heading to the airport We will continue to post updates as information becomes available.”
Vancouver Airport said it’s seeing delays for U.S. bound departures as well as some international flights that would fly over the U.S. Airports in Montreal, Calgary, Halifax and Ottawa have posted updates as well.
In an X post NAV Canada said it is closely monitoring the FAA ground stop. “Our systems are operating normally and there is currently no impact to our operations. We continue to support the safe movement of air traffic in our airspace, including any aircraft that may be diverted.”
NO FLIGHTS OVER U.S. AIRSPACE
On CTV News’ newscast Friday night, aviation expert Phyl Durdey said the domino effect could mean getting airline operations back on track “will take days.”
Durdey also noted that a ground stop means flights can’t fly over the U.S. either, meaning flights between Canada and destinations in Mexico, the Caribbean and South America could be impacted as well.
