U.S. government grounds all flights across the U.S. ‘due to extraordinary cirumstances’

Summary

• The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights across the United States on Friday afternoon due to "extraordinary circumstances" & safety issues.
• The FAA website identified the cause as an "equipment outage" & experienced technical difficulties itself at the time of publication.
• An alert from the Air Traffic Control System Command Center stated aircraft cannot take off from departure gates until further notice.
• Inbound international flights will be managed on a case-by-case basis.
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that FAA technicians are investigating the issue.
• The cause of the equipment outage remains unclear despite the administration rolling out an AI-powered tool for air traffic controllers earlier in the week.
• A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.