FAA stops departures nationwide, but intrastate flights within Alaska are still allowed

This is a developing story, and we'll continue to update as we know more.

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered departing flights held at U.S. airports at 11:54 am AKST Friday after a communications problem hit the centers that guide planes between airports.

Intrastate flights in Alaska were still allowed as of about 1:20 pm, an Alaska Airlines employee told Alaska News. Grant Aviation's office in Kenai said Friday afternoon that the airline was still flying, too.

Planes already in the air were allowed to keep flying and land, according to the AP. The FAA's order told airports to keep departing traffic on the ground "until further notice" because of "extraordinary circumstances" and "for reasons of safety." It didn't say when departures would resume. Inbound international flights would be handled case by case.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the stop followed "a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers." FAA technicians are investigating, he wrote.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters there was no indication of a "nefarious attack," Axios reported.

Air route traffic control centers track and direct planes on the long stretches between airports. Alaska's center is in Anchorage. It's responsible for more than 2 million square miles of airspace, according to the FAA, and is one of three U.S. centers that handle flights over the ocean. Radar covers only 55% to 60% of that airspace, the agency says.

About 82% of Alaska communities aren't connected to the road system, according to the state transportation department, which runs 235 airports. Most Alaska airports have no control tower. The FAA counts 13 towers in the state: four in the Anchorage area, three in the Fairbanks area and six elsewhere.

Anchorage's airport is a global cargo hub, handling more than 180 widebody cargo operations a day. Nearly 2.66 million passengers passed through it in the first half of this year.

Friday's order is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, according to the AP. That one followed the failure of the FAA system that sends safety notices to pilots, and it lasted less than two hours. Before that, the last nationwide stop followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.