This is a developing story. We will update it as more information becomes available.
Thousands of flights across the U.S. were grounded Friday afternoon due to a “communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on social media.
Around 9,000 domestic flights were delayed. Another 1,100 or so were cancelled, according to data from the tracking service FlightAware.
In Mountain West states, the impacts left airports in Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and elsewhere with hundreds of delays. Cancellations of flights began to trickle in as of about 3:30 p.m. MT.
The Mountain West News Bureau called NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, the military commands that defend the skies, and asked if the military was involved. A spokesperson there said, “We just don’t have any information at this time,” and referred a reporter to the FAA.
Duffy said online that the FAA was investigating.
“FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them,” Duffy said.
This is the second nationwide groundstop in the U.S. since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when commercial jets were hijacked by terrorists and struck targets in New York City and Washington, D.C. The other groundstop occurred in 2023 and was due to a communications system issue.
According to video of a press conference, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Friday that travelers were safe, despite not yet knowing the cause of the outage.
“This was a telecommunication outage throughout FAA,” he said at a news conference outside the White House on Friday. “There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us. It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now.”
By late afternoon, major airports in the Mountain West saw the following approximate delays and cancellations: (These numbers are changing rapidly and if you’re flying on Friday, you should check with your airport or airline)
- Denver International Airport: 39 cancellations and 308 delays
- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport: 16 cancellations and 223 delays
- Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas: 12 cancellations and 218 delays
- Salt Lake City International Airport: 55 cancellations and 267 delays
- Boise Airport: 4 cancellations and 31 delays
- Reno–Tahoe International Airport: 8 cancellations and 29 delays
- Bozeman Yellowstone International: 14 delays
- Albuquerque International Sunport: 2 cancellations and 24 delays
- Cheyenne Regional Airport: 1 delay
Airborne flights are still able to arrive, at least at some airports, including Denver International.
We are actively working with federal partners to compile information on operational impacts. Passengers should check directly with their airline for their latest flight status,” Denver airport officials said in a written release.
Mountain West News Bureau Managing Editor Michael de Yoanna contributed reporting to this story.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
