US flight ban lifted after four-hour ground stop over communications outage

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has lifted a nationwide ground stop after halting all domestic departures for approximately four hours on Friday. The disruption, triggered by severe communication problems across all 22 regional air traffic control facilities, marked only the second nationwide flight suspension since the September 11 attacks.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that technicians investigated issues within the air traffic control system that forced thousands of flight cancellations and delays. During the stoppage, international flights departing from Europe to the United States were also temporarily suspended, while arriving international flights were handled on a case-by-case basis. Authorities subsequently allowed departures to resume as systems were restored.

Sources: Der Standard, FAZ, STV News, Sweden Herald, Tagesschau