Total suspension of flights in the US has only happened twice in 25 years

The United States Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) suspended all takeoffs at airports in the country this Friday (13), citing communication problems. Planes in the air will be able to land.

A measure of the type that covers the entire American territory, affecting thousands of flights and millions of passengers, has only happened twice in the last 25 years. The first was on September 11, 2001, when attacks committed by Al Qaeda led the FAA to halt all takeoffs.

At the time, the suspension lasted two days — takeoffs were only authorized on September 13th. Additionally, flights that were already in the air were ordered to return to their points of origin or, when this was not possible due to fuel limitations, to land at Canadian airports.

After that, a crash in the FAA's computer system in January 2023 forced the agency to suspend all flights in the country. The suspension only lasted from 7:30 am to 9 am, but the effects lasted for twelve hours.

According to the website Flightaware, which monitors civil aviation around the world, 7,884 flights within the USA or to or from the country are currently experiencing delays. Another 371 have already been cancelled.

The FAA declared ATC (Air Traffic Control) status Zero, jargon that means there are no flight controller services available — that is, takeoffs are not possible. When this happens, flights already in the air operate according to visual marking rules to avoid accidents, and control towers communicate with nearby pilots via specific radio frequencies.