Politics & Diplomacy
US: FAA grounds flights at all airports in the country over a communications failure – no sign of an attack “so far”
The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on November 13, citing a communications problem at its 22 air route traffic control centers. Homeland Security says there is no indication of a malicious attack “so far.”
No flights are taking off from US airports after a nationwide ground stop ordered on Friday, November 13 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The agency cited “extraordinary circumstances” and “security reasons.” The cause is a communications problem at the Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC), which guide flights above 18,000 feet. There are 22 such centres across the country.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X that the communications problem affects all control centres and that FAA technicians are investigating. Shortly before, the FAA had halted departures from both Chicago airports, O’Hare and Midway, because of an equipment failure. NBC Chicago writes that Washington’s Reagan airport had filled up and O’Hare was nearing its limit, which can lead to the diversion of flights already in the air.
Homeland Security: no sign of an attack “so far”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House there is “no indication so far” of a malicious attack and that it is a telecommunications failure. Asked about a cyberattack, he answered that nothing is ruled out: “As we investigate the cause, you always have to consider it as a possibility, with so many cyberattacks happening. But right now it is not known.” He added that the first priority is to land safely the aircraft that are flying, that it is not known how long the ground stop will last and that “this is not another 9/11.”
The consequences are already huge. According to flight-tracking service FlightAware figures cited by the Guardian, more than 11,000 flights in the US had been delayed or cancelled. Canada’s air navigation service NAV Canada said its own systems are not affected and that it can accept aircraft that will be diverted.
Second time since 9/11
It is only the second time since the September 11, 2001 attacks that the FAA has grounded all departures nationwide. The previous one was in January 2023, when the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, through which pilots receive the necessary pre-flight information, collapsed because of a damaged file. The ground stop comes amid the war with Iran, on the same day Tehran claimed it destroyed a US radar in Bahrain (our report), and a few days after France accused Iran of cyber sabotage (our report). No US authority, however, has linked the failure to Iran or to any outside actor.
