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Shortly after 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on the 13th (5:30 a.m. Japan time on the 14th), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a ground hold order for all departing flights at airports across the United States. A senior government official said it was due to "extraordinary circumstances and security reasons" and that "communications failures" were the cause. The FAA lifted the order just after 8:15 p.m., about four hours after it was issued, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the resumption of flights at a press conference at the White House.
Secretary of Transportation Duffy announced at a press conference at the White House that in response to the restoration of facilities, ``we are opening our airspace this evening at 8:15 a.m. Eastern time.'' However, he predicted that communications problems would continue for several days as "it will take time to fully understand what happened this afternoon." Meanwhile, the company said it would fully fix the problem by Thanksgiving later this month, when people will be moving across the country.
Duffy told a news conference that the FAA ordered all flights to stay on the ground after radar communications at various air traffic control centers became "unstable" starting at 3:36 p.m. At that point, more than 3,500 flights were in the air.
The Secretary of Transportation claims America's air traffic control system is "outrageously outdated." This time, he explained that the router was "overloaded with data," resulting in "inconsistencies" in the data it received.
The Transportation Secretary also said Congress "must provide the resources to build a state-of-the-art air traffic control system," calling for $50 billion to upgrade the system.
In the current Congress, the ruling party, the Republican Party, controls both houses of Congress.
Earlier, while all flights were being grounded, Duffy said, "The FAA has issued a grounding order for all airports in the United States following a communications outage affecting all air traffic control centers."
Shortly after the standby order, Homeland Security Secretary Markway Mullin said there was no indication that the communications failure was caused by the attack and that "everyone on the flight was safe." He also said that the incident had nothing to do with the Microsoft connection failure that began worldwide on the 12th.
Secretary Marin reiterated the same message at a White House press conference that evening, stressing that the public was "in no way at risk." He said the government is doing everything it can to ensure everyone's safety and assist stranded passengers.
Asked by reporters if there was any information to suggest that the communications outage was the result of a cyberattack, Homeland Security Secretary Mullin replied, "I have not seen any evidence that this was a cyberattack or an artificial intelligence attack."
This is the second time in the United States that all flights have been ordered to ground, after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The last time it happened was in January 2023, when the FAA halted all domestic flight departures for about two hours. At that time, the cause was a failure in the NOTAM system, which quickly disseminates important information that affects navigation.
The BBC's American affiliate, CBS, said multiple sources said the technical glitch was due to an update to the civilian communications network that connects America's air traffic control system.
According to CBS, the network is operated by L3Harris, and the system failure occurred during an update and reboot.
L3Harris describes itself on its website as a "leading provider" of communications systems for the world's most advanced airspace, weapons systems, and command and control platforms.
L3Harris had no immediate comment.
San Francisco International Airport announced on social media that as of 3 p.m. local time on the 13th (8 a.m. Japan time on the 14th), "Flights to the Pacific Ocean are now permitted to depart. This includes flights to Hawaii and Asia."
The European Air Navigation Safety Organization (Eurocontrol) said on its website that "in response to a request from the FAA due to technical issues," all flights to the United States from Eurocontrol's 42 member countries have been canceled. In addition to the European Union (EU), Eurocontrol includes the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, and Morocco.
Nav Canada, which operates Canada's civil aviation system, said its systems are "operating normally" and are not affected by the grounding of flights in the United States. He added that Japan will continue to support the safe navigation of aircraft, including "aircraft that require a change in course."
Sydney Airport, Australia's largest international airport, has announced that all flights bound for the United States have been grounded.
As of 9 a.m. Japan time on the 14th, BBC reporter Oliver O'Connell, who was stranded at Newark Airport in the eastern US state of New Jersey, reported that his Alaska Airlines flight to Los Angeles, which he was scheduled to take an hour later, had been delayed by two hours and was unlikely to be able to leave before the date changed.
Inside the departure terminal, most of the seats were filled with waiting passengers, and people were lining up at several kiosks to buy food and drinks.
The security line is short, so some people may have already given up on boarding, the reporter wrote.
(English article US flights allowed to take off again as nationwide ground stop lifted but delays expected)
