FAA Grounds Flights Nationwide Over Safety Concerns

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide halt to flights scheduled to depart U.S. airports on November 13, saying the action was prompted by extraordinary circumstances and safety concerns. The stop was to remain in force until further notice.

The FAA’s stated reason included a recurring communications disruption at sites responsible for tracking aircraft in flight. The outage was cited as the cause of the ground stop in information provided by FAA employees.

International flights arriving in the United States were to be handled individually, rather than under a blanket halt on arrivals. The FAA did not provide further details about the cause of the outage.

The order applied to every flight scheduled to leave airports in the United States. No end time for the restriction was given; officials said it would stay in place until further notice.