Europe suspends flights to the US after takeoffs are interrupted

Eurocontrol, the intergovernmental organization responsible for coordinating and managing air traffic in 42 European and neighboring countries, suspended flights to the United States this Friday (13). The decision was taken at the request of the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), after the agency ordered the interruption of all takeoffs in the USA.

Eurocontrol brings together 42 member countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Israel and Turkey. Mexico also announced that it will keep all US-bound planes on the ground, at the request of the neighboring country's government.

Furthermore, Guarulhos airport, in Greater São Paulo, informed that it will also not take off aircraft bound for the USA.

At 6 pm (Brasília time), the FAA ordered the suspension of takeoffs at all airports in the country, with no deadline for normalizing air flow. According to the Donald Trump government, the crisis was caused by a communication failure that affects all air traffic control centers on American routes. Authorities deny signs of a cyber attack or threats, but avoid ruling out hypotheses.

The interruption does not prevent the landing of aircraft that are already in the air, but keeps planes on the ground that are awaiting authorization to take off. International flights are being assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Parts of American airspace have entered a state of "ATC Zero", an expression used when there are no conditions to offer air traffic control services. In communication with pilots approaching Chicago, a controller reported the loss of radio frequencies and automated systems used to track the aircraft.

As of 8pm (Brasília time), more than 10,000 flights had been delayed or canceled as a result of the suspension, according to the FlightAware platform.

The last national suspension of takeoffs in the United States occurred in January 2023, when a failure in the pilot notification system led to the interruption of domestic flights for less than two hours.

Before that, a similar measure had been adopted after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, stated that there was no evidence of a cyber attack or sabotage. The FBI also did not believe that the failure had a criminal origin. "This is not another 9/11. This is a telecommunications outage," Mullin said.