In a rare instance that’s halted flights nationwide, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a national grounding of airplanes on Friday afternoon.
“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,” the FAA posted on X.
There are still little details on why the FAA issued a ground stop. On the Martha’s Vineyard Airport site, no flight departures or arrivals are currently shown. After a short time, a message appears that reads, “No flights have been found with your search. Please try again,” alongside an image that reads “powered by OAG,” referring to the global travel data provider of digital flight information.
Geoff Freeman, Martha’s Vineyard Airport director, said the absence in details is related to the FAA troubles, although he doesn’t know the details.
“All that we’re getting is that it’s something to do with the communication links,” Freeman said.
Still, there hasn’t really been a large impact for the Island. Cape Air and FedEx each have one flight from the Vineyard that was grounded because of the FAA announcement, Freeman said, adding it was a “very slow day.”
Larger carriers, like American Airlines and Delta, have already vacated the airport after the summer season.
A FAA representative was not immediately available for comment. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X: “The @FAANews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
