The US Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop for departing flights on Friday after a communications issue affected all air route traffic control centres. FAA technicians were investigating the problem, AFP via Channel News Asia reported.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication yet that a malicious attack had caused the telecommunications outage, but officials were not ruling anything out. He said it was unclear how long the stoppage would last.
Flights already airborne were allowed to continue, while international flights were to be handled case by case. The FAA said departures could be coordinated through its air traffic control command centre as facilities recovered.
Alaska Airlines said flights within Alaska and Hawaii were not affected, and services between the West Coast and Hawaii could continue. International flights from Honolulu had also been cleared for departure, the airline said, according to ABC News Australia.
The disruption delayed or cancelled more than 11,000 US flights, according to aviation tracker FlightAware, as cited by the Guardian.
