Flights can resume after FAA lifts nationwide ground stop; travelers left confused in Philly
The FAA had cited “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety” as the reason for halting flights across the country.
Fights were grounded across the U.S. Friday night after the nation's air traffic control system became overloaded, the Trump administration said.
It's unclear when flights will resume out of Philadelphia, where hundreds of flights were canceled Friday night. "It's going to be slow," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned.
The FAA ground stop left Philadelphia travelers confused and frustrated.
Flights can resume after FAA lifts ground stop
The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted the nationwide ground stop, which means airplane departures can resume across the country.
A spokesperson at Philadelphia International Airport confirmed the ground stop has been lifted. Flights will be able to depart in coordination with the FAA.
So what happened? Trump admin blamed outdated systems
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters Friday's ground stop was caused when the nation's outdated air traffic control system became overloaded.
“Our routers actually got overloaded with data, and… they started to give us inconsistency in the data from those routers. And because of that, we shut the system down,” Duffy said.
Duffy couldn't guarantee a similar problem won't happen again, and called on Congress to provide funding for upgrades.
News of ground stop being lifted spreads through PHL terminal
News of the end of the ground stop slowly trickled through PHL's Terminal B and offered little comfort.
The line for help retrieving baggage was still about 100 frustrated people long.
Josh Velazquez and his family huddled on the floor of Baggage Claim B, phones out and not entirely dressed for the cool weather.
When will flights resume? 'It's going to be slow,' Trump admin warns
While the Federal Aviation Administration has lifted its nationwide ground stop, it might be some time before flights begin departing airports, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned.
"Does that mean every flight is going to fly? Right now, it's going to be slow," Duffy said during a White House briefing Friday night. "It's going to take us some time to unwind what's happened this afternoon."
Duffy said much will depend on airline staffing and crews, and suggested travelers check in with their airlines for updates.
Watch: Trump administration offers update on FAA ground stop
Confusion over baggage in Philly
An American Airline agent's voice carried through Baggage Claim B: Any checked bag is still slated to go to that initial final destination, even if the flight was canceled.
It was a confusing message for those who'd been told they could get their bags back if their flights had been canceled.
“We are here to help, but we just need you to know there is no estimated time of arrival,” said the agent. “This is happening throughout the entire United States of America.”
UAB football team makes it to Philly
The University of Alabama at Birmingham's football team has already arrived in Philadelphia, per a team spokesperson. The team was in the air when the nationwide flight grounding was announced.
Temple will face UAB Saturday at 1 p.m. as scheduled.
University of North Carolina's women’s basketball team was not impacted. They were are already in Philly, where they face Penn Saturday at 4 p.m.
Watch: Flights disappear over Philly after nationwide ground stop
Group of friends were on the tarmac when ground stop was called
Langhorne resident Kari Thomas, 53, was already buckled up and on a plane destined for Orlando when she heard news of a ground stop at around 3:15 p.m.
“Initially [the captain] said it was 15 to 20 minutes and only in New York and Philadelphia,” she said.
But 20 minutes later, she and her friends, all headed for a cruise, were instructed to deplane, the scope of the order still unclear to the group at the time.
Flights nationwide grounded: What we know so far
Late Friday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop for all flights.
It was unclear when the overall ground stop would be lifted, but on Friday evening international flights resumed departures from Philadelphia International Airport, an airport spokesperson said.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there's no reason to believe a terrorist attack was behind the outage forcing flights nationwide to be grounded.
In Philly, travelers are 'exasperated and upset'
At the departures area near ticketing, small clusters of travelers stared at their phones awaiting crucial updates that would let them resume their travel.
But as the evening dragged on, more of them booked hotels and left.
Redondo Beach-based attorney Tessa Duxbury said she’d been on the plane ready to return to Los Angeles when she got the news.
Passengers said they weren't given updates about what was happening
When the ground stop was issued, many flights continued to their destination, with passengers describing having little to no information about what was happening below.
Mark Bruggemann, 33, left the Palm Beach's President Donald J. Trump International Airport about half an hour before the FAA's order.
He said it was passengers on his flight to Philadelphia that spread the word of the ground stop throughout the plane.
European flights have resumed out of PHL
A spokesperson for Philadelphia International Airport said flights departing for Europe had resumed as of about 6 p.m. There wasn’t an immediate timeline for when domestic flights may resume.
The spokesperson said the airport was continuing to monitor the situation.
'Don't fly through America'
Bri Laverdure, of British Columbia, Canada, flew out of Victoria, had a layover in Seattle, and was expecting one more layover on her long journey to Barcelona for a technology conference that she planned to follow up with a vacation.
Now stuck in Philadelphia and weighing what hotel to stay at for the night, she recounted her friend’s advice, which she did not heed.
“Don’t fly through America,” Laverdure said.
PHL travelers scrambling for hotels and rideshares
Many passengers are already giving up on plans to make it home from Philadelphia International Airport, heading to baggage claim to find an available outlet and affordable lodging for the night.
Laurel Fiore, 67, and her friend had already missed the connection from a flight back from Rome. They landed to news of the ground stop with their phones “blowing up” with messages from loved ones.
Now, comes the scramble, she said.
New Jerseyan stuck in Minnesota: 'Nobody knows what's happening'
Nearly a thousand miles stood between New Jerseyan Adit Baruah and his weekend.
The 35-year-old from Mount Royal has been in Minneapolis for a five-day work trip, which was scheduled to end Friday. Baruah was buzzing to get home to his family, as they have a “full weekend planned.”
But his return flight to Philadelphia International Airport — by way of a connection in Chicago — was thwarted by the ground stop.
Sports teams, including Brooklyn Nets, impacted by flight issues
Several sports teams have had their travel plans disrupted after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights Friday afternoon.
USC's women's basketball team said in a statement they've been grounded in Los Angeles due to the nationwide ground stop. They're scheduled to play South Carolina Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Brooklyn Nets, who are scheduled to play the Memphis Grizzlies Saturday night, were about to take off in New Orleans Friday afternoon before the ground stop was issues, according to The Athletic.
Officials 'looking' into whether AI-powered air traffic management system played a role
Officials are "looking at" whether the expansion of an AI-powered air traffic management system played a role in the issues that led to the FAA's nationwide ground step, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.
“We are taking a look, we’re working with our counterparts throughout all agencies," Mullin told reporters today when asked about a possible link between the new system and the ground stop.
SMART, which stands for Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories, is an $875 million FAA tool announced this week. It's meant to “assist in managing air traffic across the entire national air space system,” Ars Technica reported Thursday.
'We might just drive': Travelers in Philly react after all flights grounded.
At PHL's Terminal A East security screening, a TSA agent broke the news to travelers: “Be advised all flights are grounded until further notice.”
The many screens listing arrivals and departures did not reflect the news, listing some flights as delayed by as little as 40 minutes.
Sabrina Bonn, 40, and her boss stared at the boards with low charges on their phones.
American Airlines expects disruptions 'for the rest of the day'
American Airlines, the largest carrier at Philadelphia International Airport by passenger volume, alerted travelers Friday afternoon the FAA had “temporarily paused departures nationwide.”
“Flights already in the air can continue to their destinations,” the statement posted to the airline’s website noted. “We expect disruption to our schedule for the rest of the day, depending on the length of the FAA’s nationwide ground stop.”
The airline carried over 20 million passengers through PHL last year – nearly 70% of the total travelers through the airport that year.
Number of planes on the ground in Philly grows
More than an hour after the FAA’s call to ground all flights nationwide, many commercial and private flights remain in the skies over the Philadelphia region, according to live data from FlightRadar24.com.
The web site reports that 130 aircraft are currently on the ground at Philadelphia International Airport, a number that continues to grow. Most planes scheduled to depart from PHL are listed with delayed departure estimates.
The delays impact passenger traffic as well as UPS and other cargo shipment flights.
What is a ground stop?
Thousands of flights are grounded nationwide by the FAA.
The formal term here is “ground stop,” a phrase used within the Air Traffic Control System Command Center to describe when flights are held at their departure point.
In turn, flights impacted are required to stay on the ground at their starting point until the stop is lifted. Ground stops can be specific to an airport, region, or — like in this case — nationwide.
Homeland Security secretary: 'Too early to tell' how long ground stop will last.
How long will the ground stop on flights nationwide last?
Speaking to reporters at the White House Friday evening, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin didn't have an answer.
"It's too early to tell right now," Mullin said.
Homeland Security secretary says no indication of threat
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there's no reason to believe a terrorist attack was behind the outage forcing flights nationwide to be grounded.
“There is no indication that we’ve had, no reason to believe, that as of right now this was a threat to the United States,” Mullin said, telling reporters at the White House, “This was a telecommunication outage."
Mullin hedged when pressed if he could definitively rule out a cyberattack.
When was the last FAA nationwide ground stop?
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the FAA ground all flights.
In January 2023, a U.S. aviation warning system crash caused a similar response, causing a day’s worth of flights to be delayed or canceled. Flights resumed several hours later.
The FAA said the Notice to Air Missions, or NOTAM, system — which gives pilots alerts about things ranging from a flock of birds to bad weather — had issues because of a damaged database file.
Hundreds of delays in Philly due to FAA ground stop
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement to The Inquirer that “communication issues” were impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
A spokesperson for Philadelphia International Airport could not immediately be reached for comment Friday evening.
More than 300 flights into and out of PHL were delayed as of about 5:20 p.m. Friday, according to data from flight tracking website FlightAware. Another 20 flights had been canceled.
When will the ground stop be lifted?
In an alert sent Friday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration cited "extraordinary circumstances" and "reasons of safety" for ordering all flights nationwide to be grounded.
"All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice," the FAA's alert read. "Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis."
The FAA has not offered any further updates about the cause of the ground stop or how long it will remain in place.
FAA issues nationwide ground stop for all flights
The Federal Aviation Administration took the extraordinary step of grounding all flights nationwide Friday afternoon due to communications issues, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed in a social media post.
Duffy described the problem as a "communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers."
"FAA technicians are investigating the issue," Duffy wrote. "We will provide immediate updates as we have them."