The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted aircraft departures at all airports in the US on Friday, November 13. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said the cause was a communications problem at air traffic control centers.
FAA statement
The FAA said the halt would remain in place “due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons.” The statement says all departures are to stay on the ground until further notice, and international flights will be reviewed individually. The first alert contained no other information.
According to reports, the ban took effect at 3:54 p.m. Eastern Time, which is 9:54 p.m. Polish time. The FAA did not say how long the halt would last.
Cause according to the transport secretary
Sean Duffy wrote on X that the ground stop covered all airports in the country after a communications problem affecting all regional Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the fault, and the minister promised updates.
Earlier, radio frequency outages had been reported in some parts of the country. At the time of publication, the cause of the failure had not been disclosed, and no plan for resuming flights had been announced.
A very rare measure
A nationwide halt of all departures is extremely rare. For the first time since the September 11, 2001 attacks, the FAA applied it in January 2023, after a failure of the NOTAM system, which informs pilots of hazards. Flights were resumed after several hours, but more than 10,000 flights were delayed or cancelled.
The current notice applies to departures from airports in the US. At the time of publication, no information had been given about effects on flights to Poland or other international routes.
