The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its third-ever nationwide ground stop on Friday evening after several hours of disruptions. Domestic flights received clearance to resume departures at 8:35 pm EST. Following the incident, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that additional ground stops will likely occur in the future unless the agency receives massive system updates.
Outdated Equipment Causes Major Travel Disruptions
Duffy explained on X that the nationwide ground stop occurred because the air traffic control system runs on decades-old analog equipment. He noted that this legacy technology cannot keep pace with the demands of the 21st century. The disruption impacted more than one million travelers, prompting some airlines to cancel all remaining flights for the day.
Air Canada announced the cancellation of all its flights to and from the United States for the rest of the evening as a direct result of the active ground stop.
Initial Outage and Response
The flight stoppage began on Friday afternoon at 3:36 pm EST, just days after the agency expanded its use of an artificial intelligence tool. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the nationwide halt, preventing departures across all airports in the United States. Duffy first announced the emergency measure on X, pointing to a communication issue that affected every Air Route Traffic Control Center. At the time, Duffy pledged to provide further updates as technicians worked to troubleshoot the problem.
