All departing US flights have been grounded after the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) issued a nationwide order on Friday, citing “extraordinary circumstance and reasons of safety".
Aer Lingus flights due to depart the US for Ireland were on hold on Friday night, the airline confirmed.
Shortly before the announcement, the FAA halted traffic in Chicago due to air traffic control communications issues. The agency said: “All departing traffic should remain groundstopped until further notice.” The FAA said international flights will be managed on a case-by-case basis.
The FAA advised all airborne flights to circle instead of landing during the communications outage. It told pilots to circle along predetermined routes instead of landing due to “equipment outages”.
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There is a “possibility” that both arriving and departing flights between Dublin Airport and the US could be impacted on Saturday morning due to the ground stop, an airport spokesman said on Friday night.
“We are aware of the current suspension of flights departing from the United States,” Graeme McQueen, spokesman for Dublin Airport, said.
“It remains unclear how long this suspension will remain in effect, and there is a possibility that it could impact both arriving and departing flights between Dublin Airport and the United States on Saturday morning.”
A total of 24 flights from the US were due to land at Dublin Airport before 10.30am on Saturday, with the first of those, from Boston, scheduled to arrive at 4.15am.
“Passengers are advised to contact their airline directly for the latest updates on the status of their flight,” he said.
A number of flights left Dublin Airport bound for the US earlier on Friday. Between 3.30pm and 4.45pm, nine flights were listed to have departed Dublin Airport headed for Boston, New York, Cleveland, Washington, Chicago, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Raleigh-Durham, according to Flight Radar.
According to information on FlightRadar, these flights are still en route and are not due to land yet.
Two flights are due to arrive at Shannon Airport from Boston and New York at 5.50am and 6.10am respectively.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said the airline is aware of the groundstop.
“Aer Lingus flights en route to the US will be permitted to land and Aer Lingus flights due to depart the US are currently on hold,” she said.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and will communicate directly with customers who are impacted by the disruption.”
She said customers should continue to check aerlingus.com for latest updates.
US transportation secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the incident, saying in a statement that the stoppage was due to “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers”. He added: “FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
Friday was the second groundstop of all departures in the US since the September 11th, 2001, attacks. The other happened in January 2023, when the FAA paused all domestic departures for less than two hours.
According to the tracking website Flight Radar 24, there are currently “3,100 airborne aircraft bound for US airports” amid the groundstop.
Canada’s aviation authority said in a statement that its systems were “operating normally”.
Additional reporting by Reuters/Guardian
