Airline stocks fell right before Friday’s close after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop. Departing flights cannot take off, while flights already in the air may continue to their destination.
Transportation Department Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement that there is a “communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”
Around 5 p.m. Eastern, the FAA said in a statement on X that the action was taken out of caution.
“There has been a temporary telecommunications outage — out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis.”
Shares of American Airlines (AAL), Southwest (LUV), JetBlue (JBLU), Delta Air Lines (DAL), and United Airlines (UAL) all moved lower on the news.
This is extremely rare. The last time that the FAA halted all US departures was in January of 2023 due to a system outage. Prior to that, traffic was halted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Microsoft said in a statement posted on X that its outage is not related to this incident.
This story is breaking. Check back for updates.
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