The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended all flights across the United States until further notice, citing extraordinary circumstances and safety concerns. An agency spokesperson said a communications problem was affecting air traffic control centers along air routes responsible for monitoring aircraft flying through U.S. airspace.
The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, meanwhile, stressed that the flight suspension was not prompted by any threat to the country. Initial reports also indicated that the incident was not the result of a cyberattack, according to law enforcement sources cited by CNN. U.S. President Donald Trump was briefed on the situation, CNN reported.
The United States previously experienced a nationwide flight suspension in January 2023, when the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system suffered an outage. An earlier nationwide grounding was imposed following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
