On Friday afternoon, days after expanding use of an AI tool, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop, halting departures from all US airports. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced the ground stop on X, citing a "communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers." Duffy promised updates as more information is known and said FAA staff were troubleshooting the problem.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that the ground stop was not prompted by a security threat. "This is a telecommunications outage out of the FAA. Out of an abundance of caution, we have grounded all of the flights," Mullin said. "There's no indication as of yet that this is a nefarious attack against us."
Mullin said the FAA would handle incoming international flights on a case-by-case basis.
