Rare 'ground stop' halts thousands of departing flights in US, strands travelers nationwide

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded thousands of flights nationwide Friday, citing communications problems at nearly two dozen regional air traffic control centers, bringing air travel to an abrupt halt across the region and throughout the country.

The nationwide ground stop, which led to nearly 10,000 delays and more than 5,000 cancellations, and was lifted at around 8:30 p.m., was imposed "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," according to the FAA.

It's the first such nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a FAA computer system malfunctioned, affecting more than 10,000 flights and leading to more than 1,000 flight cancellations. Before the that 2023 event, which lasted about 90 minutes, the last time had been after the Sept. 11, 2011, terrorist attacks.

'It happens'

At the time of Friday's ground stop before 4 p.m., more than 3,500 flights were airborne and destined to U.S. airports, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

At airports across the region Friday, passengers reported being told to disembark from planes set to depart, with relatively little information provided. Others with flights set to depart were forced to wait, and hope for a change.

Flights already in the air were being allowed to continue to their destinations, officials said.

Islip’s Long Island MacArthur Airport was largely quiet as passengers who were turned away either waited for rides or hoped for the ground stop to come to an end.

Fred Keller, a Selden native who was headed to Orlando for his granddaughter’s fifth birthday, kept a positive attitude as he dealt with the sudden stoppage.

"I guess I’m going to be missing that," he said of the birthday. "But hey, listen, if it happens, it happens. ... I’ll be on the next plane as soon as they give the OK to fly."

Jackie Smith, a saleswoman for an electrical manufacturing company based in Orangeburg, said her flight from MacArthur home to Florida was delayed until after 10 p.m.

Smith, a Long Islander for more than three decades before moving to Vero Beach, Florida, said she wasn’t concerned about the delays.

"Worst case scenario, my bestie comes [and] we spend the night in Manorville and I take a flight back home tomorrow," Smith said.

Communications outage

Duffy cited a communications issue affecting the 22 regional air traffic control centers that direct planes en route between airports nationwide. The New York Control Center is located in Ronkonkoma.

"What we have is an incredibly old air traffic control system," Duffy said during a White House press briefing Friday evening.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters there was no indication that a cyberattack had caused the communications issue.

"This was a telecommunications outage throughout FAA," Mullin said, later adding "Everybody's safe. There's no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they're flying."

Many passengers inside JFK's Terminal 8 spent Friday evening staring at the departure board, which provided only mixed messages.

The board said most flights were "on time" or "now boarding" while a loudspeaker announced canceled flights. Others were mulling about in confusion.

But Litvia Joseph and Patricia Brook were smiling with anticipation.

Joseph’s boyfriend, Thobias Maggnuson, managed to catch a flight from his native Sweden, where they first met, to Kennedy, where she was prepared to great him with heart-shaped balloons and an airbrushed sign.

"I'm just glad this worked out that he can come in," Joseph, 32, or Pine Bush, said. "I’ve been waiting four months."

Nearby, Sandra Roleniatis sat with Tsuki, a show dog she co-owns, to fly home to Finland. Her flight was still scheduled to depart at 10:45 p.m.

"We’re either going to get on a plane or I don’t know what we’re going to do," Roleniatis, 61, of Aspers, Pennsylvania, said.

Like many passengers, Kelly McCrudden of Chappaqua gave up on her weekend plans, a girls trip to Nashville. The other gals are there, and she told them to not wait for her.

"I’m just going to go home to my kids," McCrudden, 38, said as she attempted to catch a Lyft back from JFK home to Chappaqua.

'It's quite concerning'

Passengers at LaGuardia Airport, meanwhile, took the delays in stride. 

Mihir Mongia, 35, from Williamsburg was supposed to fly to Arkansas for a bachelor party. He heard through friends that all flights were grounded but nonetheless arrived at LaGuardia around 5 p.m. for confirmation.

"Problems like this will happen more often in the future," he said of the ground stop. "But yeah, as a national concern, it's quite concerning." 

Ken Thomas, 73, and his wife Beverly Thomas, 74, of Dallas were visiting their daughter and grandchildren in Massapequa and were supposed to fly back home at 6:45 p.m. but the flight was eventually canceled. They’re now rebooked on a Sunday flight, which means they will miss a wedding celebration that day.

"I've been flying for over 50 years, and something like this, it's never happened," he said. "So it does make you nervous to get on a plane. ... So maybe we should be glad we're not getting out till Sunday."

James Chitty, CEO of Farmingdale-based private jet charter company Talon Air, based out of East Farmingdale’s Republic Airport, said he relieved his pilots from duty for the day, "so they can leave as early as possible tomorrow, assuming we’re back to normal."

Chitty said his company, which operates about 40 aircraft, had two jets preparing to take off out of Republic — Long Island’s busiest private airport — when flights were grounded.

"Even if we get the ‘all clear’ tonight, everybody's going to be looking to take off tonight and you're just going to sit on the runway," Chitty said. "We're giving people the option ... ‘Hey, would you like to go tonight? Would you go tomorrow morning?’ And so far everybody's opted for tomorrow."

The communications problems, Mullin said, do not appear to be linked to the FAA’s new AI-powered system, which the agency is rolling out to help predict problems in the sky.

The FAA’s SMART system is based in a single location near Washington, D.C., where a team of experts analyzes flight schedules, weather forecasts and hundreds of other streams of data. That office sends recommendations to the FAA’s command center, which then relays them to controllers across the country for consideration.

With The Associated Press