FAA Calls Off Nationwide Ground Stop as Flight Cancellations Top 5,000

The Federal Aviation Administration ended the nationwide ground stop it imposed Friday, calling off a halt that had stretched for hours and grounded flights across the country. The agency pointed to a 'temporary telecommunications outage' as the trigger. It has not said what caused that outage.

The damage was already deep. FlightRadar24 counted more than 5,000 cancellations, a figure the tracking service said 'continues to rise rapidly.' Chicago O'Hare International Airport took the hardest hit with 459 scrapped flights, followed by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and New York's LaGuardia Airport.

CNN reported that the FAA 'doesn't know yet what is going on,' citing a person familiar with the matter. A second source told the outlet the outage knocked out air traffic control radars and radio frequencies, leaving controllers in the dark about the root cause. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and the FAA have both pinned it on a telecommunications problem.

Microsoft moved quickly to distance itself, posting on X that it has 'no indication' the ground stop is tied to any of its services. The chaos spilled onto the rails too: Amtrak said it was fielding 'higher-than-normal call volumes' because of the airline mess and apologized for error messages on its website and app.