Passengers flying to and from UK airports face disruption after the FAA grounded all flights across the United States due to a telecommunications outage, with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic cancellations already confirmed
British holidaymakers jetting to and from UK airports are likely to face travel chaos after flights were grounded across the United States.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights nationwide “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety”, sending shockwaves through the travel industry.
British Airways has already cancelled a flight to New York which had been due to depart London Heathrow at 10.30pm on Friday. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Manchester Airport confirmed three US-bound flights scheduled to leave on Saturday morning – all operated by Virgin Atlantic – are likely to be affected if the situation remains unresolved.
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “We’re aware of the ground stop order issued by the Federal Aviation Administration for all US airports.
“We’re closely monitoring the situation and assessing any impact to our flights. We advise any customers due to travel to check their flight status at virginatlantic.com.”
US transportation secretary Sean Duffy revealed the FAA is probing a communications issue affecting regional air traffic control centres, according to the Associated Press.
Remarkably, this marks only the second time flights have been grounded across the US since the devastating September 11 terror attacks in 2001, with the FAA previously halting flights in January 2023 due to a system error.
Attempting to reassure a worried public, US homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin stated: “There is no reason for the public to be afraid or scared for your loved ones. This isn’t another 9/11… This is a telecommunications outage.
“Throughout FAA, out of abundant of caution, we have grounded all the flights, and all the flights are accounted for.
“As incoming flights, either internationally or the flights that are currently still in the air, we’ll be dealing with those case by case.
“As you can imagine, there will be a priority list as they start coming in.”
Mr Mullin reassured the public: “Everybody is safe. There is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they’re flying or anything like that. I just want to make sure everybody’s at ease about that.”
He continued: “There is no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us. It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now.”
Mr Mullin has recognised the severity of the situation, describing it as “a crisis”.
He explained: “Every agency that has an asset that is involved in this… we’re all working together. But that’s what we do, right?”.
“I don’t want to get to say that this is a crisis but it is because we had to do a nationwide ground stoppage.”
However, Mr Mullin remained confident in the response: “It’s what the government works well at.
“That’s what we’re here for, and so we are well positioned and communicating very well.
“The president took a lead in this immediately, and he gave us the assets and the communication to move forward in a fast way.”
Mr Mullin cautioned that resolving the disruption will take “some time”, urging people not to anticipate things being “turned around within the hour”.
“This is going to take some time, but once again, everybody is safe,” he stated. “The flights are accounted for, and there should be no fear to the public at all.”
An American Airlines representative confirmed: “The FAA has temporarily paused departures nationwide.
“Flights already in the air can continue to their destinations.
“We expect disruption to our schedule for the rest of the day, depending on the length of the FAA’s nationwide ground stop.
“It will be all hands-on deck across American to get customers on their way as soon as possible when the FAA lifts this ground stop.”