The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered all departing flights across the United States grounded until further notice, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” CNN reported Friday.
The nationwide directive expands the disruption beyond the individual airport ground stops and equipment-related delays reported earlier Friday afternoon. Officials have not announced when departures will resume.
“Traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice,” the FAA said in an advisory. “International flights will be managed on a case by case basis.”
The cause of the sweeping shutdown was not immediately clear. CNN reported that frequency outages had occurred in parts of the country before the order, though officials had not established what triggered the nationwide halt.
Earlier FAA notices showed equipment outages forcing ground stops at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports. Both restrictions had initially been scheduled to remain in place until 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
Equipment-related departure delays were also reported at Newark, Las Vegas, Phoenix and New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, underscoring the geographic reach of the problems.
Shortly after 4 p.m. Eastern, O’Hare listed departure delays averaging 45 minutes and increasing. Teterboro reported average departure delays of an hour, also increasing.
Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Orlando International Airport also posted departure delays associated with equipment-related traffic restrictions.
The FAA’s subsequent nationwide advisory gave no explanation for the extraordinary circumstances behind the order and left departing aircraft on hold pending further instructions.
