FAA lifts take-off ban at US airports

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the nationwide stop on takeoffs at airports after about four hours. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced this on its website. Thousands of flights had previously been canceled. Tens of thousands of passengers were stranded at the airports.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference at the White House that the aging communications and control system was overloaded and outputting erroneous data, leading to the nationwide grounding of flights.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had previously ruled out a cyber attack as the cause.

Air traffic continues to be affected

Even after the problems have been resolved, there will likely still be a significant impact on further air traffic, as a number of aircraft are now missing where they would have been needed for further flights as planned.

With takeoffs suspended, tens of thousands of passengers were stranded at airports.

Flights between Europe and the USA suspended

Transatlantic air traffic was also restricted by the take-off ban. The European aviation safety authority Eurocontrol announced last night that no aircraft from Europe were currently allowed to take off for the USA due to technical problems with the US flight control system.

It was only the second nationwide stop of air traffic in the USA since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The FAA last took this radical measure in January 2023. At that time, the trigger was a failure in the system through which messages are transmitted to pilots.