Flights halted at airports across US, including El Paso, due to air traffic control communications problems, FAA says

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide Friday afternoon, including at El Paso International Airport, because of communications problems at regional air traffic control centers. The FAA notice said the ground stop was being imposed “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” The city of El Paso in a statement said the airport is “monitoring the situation and awaiting further guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding the ongoing ground stop and its impact on flights.” It added that passengers are encouraged to check directly with their airlines for the latest flight status information, including potential delays or cancellations, before traveling to the airport. As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, El Paso International Airport listed five flight cancellations and 37 delays for the remainder of the day, according to flightaware.com . The FAA order applies to departing flights while allowing those planes already in the air to land. It’s unclear if those will be diverted to the closest airports or allowed to continue to their destination. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said there is a communications issue affecting the 22 regional air traffic control centers that direct planes en route between airports nationwide. He said FAA technicians are investigating. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said there’s no indication yet of any nefarious act behind  the FAA communications issue. “There is no indication — and we had no reason to believe that — as of right now, that this was a threat to the United States,” Mullin said. Asked if there may be a connection to Thursday’s Microsoft outage, Mullin said officials are not ruling anything out. This is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023 when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned. Before that the last time had been after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The government has been working to overhaul the outdated technology that air traffic controllers rely on since Congress approved $12.5 billion for the project last year. Miles of old copper wires have been replaced with fiber optic lines and old radio systems are gradually being replaced at airports across the country. But much work remains. Duffy has said that another $30 billion will be needed to complete the work, and the White House has begun lobbying Congress to approve it. This story was published by the Associated Press and localized for El Paso by El Paso Matters journalists.