A massive aviation meltdown hit the United States as a temporary nationwide ground stop affected 11,000 flights. The emergency restrictions took effect on November 13 at 15:53 local time (01:53 on November 14 Astana time), infohub.kz reports.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the nationwide suspension of departures from all airports across the country. In an emergency notice, the agency said: "Due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety reasons (…) at the direction of the federal aviation command center, a departure ban has been imposed at all airports. All departing traffic must remain on the ground until further notice. Arriving international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis."
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy gave the cause of the meltdown at a White House press conference. "At 15:36 we recorded instability in our communications and radar centers and at towers across the country," he said. According to the official, radar systems began producing inconsistent information, although neither communications nor radar capabilities were completely lost. "We have incredibly old air traffic control systems," the secretary lamented.
The press service of aviation analytics company Cirium said the meltdown affected 11,000 flights and 1.5 million passengers. More than 4,000 departures were canceled. The restrictions lasted more than four hours, until 20:19 (06:19 on November 14 Astana time).
It is noted that this is the second such case in US history since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The last time the FAA imposed a ban on domestic flights was in January 2023, but the restrictions lasted less than two hours.