The US Federal Aviation Administration grounded all departing flights nationwide on Friday after a communications failure hit air traffic control centers, in only the second such shutdown since the September 11, 2001, attacks. The shutdown caused chaos at airports, with airlines canceling more than 1,000 flights and delaying nearly 10,000, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Thousands of aircraft already in the air were allowed to land, while those on the ground could not take off. The disruption quickly spread beyond the United States, forcing the cancellation of flights from Canada and Europe.
There's no indication that this is an attack against the US, the homeland security secretary says, adding that "everybody's safe" - what else did he say? BBC reported.
Markwayne Mullin sought to reassure the public, saying repeatedly that this isn't "another 9/11", our Washington correspondent writes
The incident is the largest groundstop in the US since the one after 11 September 2001
US bound flights from across Europe were suspended after a Federal Aviation Administration request
Some Asia and Pacific-bound flights were able to depart from certain US airports
The Federal Aviation Administration says airplane departures can resume after the agency lifted a nationwide ground stop caused by communications problems.
