FAA lifts nationwide departure halt after telecommunications outage

The US Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a nationwide halt on departing flights imposed on Friday, November 13, following a telecommunications outage, Times of Oman and Al Jazeera English reported. The restrictions ended hours after they began, following disruption at US airports and to international services.

The initial order required departing aircraft to stay on the ground pending further instructions. The FAA cited safety concerns and exceptional circumstances in imposing the restrictions, according to Times of Oman and Hespress English.

The nationwide action followed an earlier suspension of air traffic operations in Chicago because of communications difficulties, Hespress English reported.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed older network equipment for the failure, Times of Oman reported. He described ageing switches, routers and copper wiring, and said a communications problem had affected every Air Route Traffic Control Center, with FAA technicians investigating.

Times of Oman, citing flight tracker FlightAware, reported that Friday's cancellations exceeded 4,500, with roughly 700 more flights cancelled for Saturday. It also reported delays to over 10,000 flights operating domestically or travelling to or from the United States.

The disruption extended beyond US departure gates. Eurocontrol said departures bound for US airports from its 42 member countries had been suspended at the FAA's request because of technical problems, according to Times of Oman.

In Canada, NAV Canada said it introduced measures to regulate traffic at Toronto Pearson, Montreal-Trudeau, Calgary and Vancouver airports. Its own systems were functioning normally, the air navigation provider said, according to the same report.

Hespress English reported that the FAA notice allowed international flights arriving in the United States to be assessed individually, rather than placing all arrivals under the departure restrictions.

The outage followed a funding appeal for air traffic control upgrades. Times of Oman reported that Duffy had asked Congress for $30 billion to modernize the system one day before the nationwide halt.

The newspaper described the disruption as the first nationwide ground stop since a January 2023 FAA system outage. It said the nationwide halt preceding that incident had followed the September 11, 2001 attacks.