The President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated this Friday (13) that the suspension of flights in the country does not appear to be related to any cyber attack or Artificial Intelligence. The statement was made during a telephone interview with the Fox News channel.
Earlier in the evening, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the suspension of all takeoffs in the country after a communication failure that affected air traffic control centers. The measure is considered rare and has only happened three times in history.
United States Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said the government has no evidence that the outage was caused by an attack. According to him, the problem is related to a temporary failure in telecommunications services.
TV Globo learned from a source who works in a control tower at a New York airport that the problem is related to a crossing of radio frequencies.
As a result, more than one aircraft can transmit messages at the same time on the same frequency, which makes communication with controllers difficult.
In practice, professionals cannot clearly identify which plane is talking to the tower.
More than 10,000 flights are delayed or canceled, according to monitoring website FlightAware. The FAA has not yet given an estimate of when the national suspension of takeoffs will end.
"If the suspension of takeoffs continues into the evening, it will likely be necessary to wait until the weekend to resolve the impacts on airline operations," said Robert Mann, aviation analyst and director of consultancy R.W. Mann & Co, to Reuters.
The FAA stated that all flights that are in the air have already been identified. International flight arrivals are being assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The agency also warned of the possibility that planes that are already in the air will have to remain flying in circles while awaiting authorization to land.
The US government reported that President Donald Trump has already been informed about the situation and that there is no reason for the population to be afraid.
"I want to reinforce: there is no reason for the public to be afraid or worried about their families. This is not a new 9/11. What is happening now is a failure in telecommunications. It is something very different," said Secretary Mullin.
Some international flights originating in the United States were allowed to take off even during the national suspension of operations, according to air monitoring website Flightradar24. Aircraft departing from Boston and New York bound for Europe and Asia managed to take off after delays, according to the platform's records, cited by The New York Times.
Suspension has global impact
The United States is the largest passenger market in the world, with 890.1 million passengers registered in 2025, considering arrivals and departures, according to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
In Brazil, the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) reported that it is monitoring the situation of grounded flights in the USA and recommends passengers to contact airlines to check the status of their flight or possible changes.
Eurocontrol, the organization responsible for coordinating air traffic in Europe, reported that it has suspended all traffic originating in member countries and going to airports in the United States, at the request of the FAA.
Investigation
United States Secretary of Transport, Sean Duffy, stated that the failure affects all control centers responsible for traffic on the country's air routes. FAA technicians are investigating the problem, he said.
Microsoft, which faced technical problems this Thursday (12), states that "there is no indication" that the suspension of flights in the USA is related to the company's services.
Bloomberg reported that the FBI does not believe the communications problem was caused by a cyber attack or criminal action.
According to the news agency, American police are investigating whether a software update may have caused the FAA systems to fail.
The episode occurs amid a series of problems in the United States' air traffic control system, which is facing equipment failures, communication problems and a lack of controllers.
The government is trying to modernize the structure, which is aging. Last year, Congress approved $12.5 billion to reform the system. This Friday (13), the FAA and the White House asked parliamentarians for an additional US$30.1 billion to resolve other problems.
Suspensions
This is the second time that the FAA has ordered a nationwide suspension of all takeoffs since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The other occurred on January 11, 2023, when a failure in the agency's aeronautical information system caused a stoppage of less than two hours.
At the time, more than 1,300 flights were canceled and almost 10,000 were delayed throughout the day.
