US flights grounded nationwide: A look back at the last major FAA shutdown in 2023

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday ordered a nationwide ground stop on all departing flights, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” The unusual move has brought attention back to a similar incident in January 2023, when a failure in the agency's aviation warning system disrupted flights across the United States.

The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on all departing flights on Friday. (Unsplash/ representative image)As per NBC News, today, the alert gave no other details. It only said that “all departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice.” The FAA also said, “Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis." “FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an online post.

“We will provide immediate updates as we have them.” In January 2023, the FAA also grounded all flights, as per NBC News. The agency blamed an unspecified failure in the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. NOTAM sends pilots a steady stream of short codes and abbreviations about dangers like parachuters, bad weather, airspace limits and flocks of birds.

The FAA later traced the problem to a damaged database file. The agency said there was no evidence of a cyberattack, and the White House also said it saw no signs of one. The Department of Transportation said it was doing a “full investigation” into the root cause.

Then Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the outage lasted about an hour and a half. But the FAA website that lists NOTAMs could only be reached on and off during that time, as per NBC News. NBC News reported in January 2023 that NOTAM has long frustrated pilots and others in aviation.

They say it gives them too much information that does not matter for their flight, which makes it hard to spot what is useful. In 2018, Robert Sumwalt, then board chair of the US National Transportation Safety Board, said NOTAMs had become “just a bunch of garbage that nobody pays any attention to,” according to NBC News.

That year, Congress passed a bill asking the FAA to reform the system. However, that work was still ongoing in 2023. David Mumford, a spokesperson for the OPS Group, an industry group of around 8,000 flight professionals, said at the time that the failure only highlighted his group’s cause.

“Once again, we get to see how antiquated and vulnerable the Notam system is!” he said. According to NBC News, nationwide ground stops are extremely rare. The FAA has not shared any reason for the move beyond saying it was “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” Shortly before the FAA issued its alert, both major airports in Chicago, O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport, were listed on a ground stop alert due to an “equipment outage,” as per NBC Chicago.

Khushi Arora is a Content Producer at Hindustan Times, where she writes for the US Desk, covering everything happening in the United States, while maintaining quality and delivering impactful stories across all beats. She previously worked at Zee News for over a year where she explored multiple beats including News Desk, Education and Lifestyle.

With a background in English Literature, Khushi blends sharp research with thoughtful storytelling, shaping stories that go beyond headlines and bring clarity and credibility to every piece she writes. Beyond the newsroom, she enjoys reading, watching cinema and loves having long conversations about books, films and everything in between.Read More