US international departures “assessed case by case by FAA”

Ainternational departures from the United States are being “assessed case by case” by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which today suspended all take-offs in the country, United Airlines said.

According to United Airlines, which operates the largest fleet of aircraft in the United States, although domestic flights remain retained, ‘international departures are being assessed on a case-by-case basis by the FAA’.

On social network X, the airline indicated that the flights that are already on the air will continue to the destination, like American Airlines.

Flight disturbances are expected for the rest of the day, leading American Airlines to the X.

“Our entire team is mobilised to ensure that passengers are on their way as soon as possible, as soon as the FAA suspends this national stoppage of take-offs,” the airline said.

Together with Delta, American and United are the largest US airlines.

The United States has the world's busiest airspace, with the FAA managing an average of more than 45,000 daily flights serving about 2.9 million airline passengers.

The FAA today suspended all take-offs in the country due to communication problems in regional air traffic control centres.

In a statement, the FAA justified the suspension of operations with ‘extraordinary circumstances and security reasons’.

“ All exit traffic [from airports] should remain on the ground until further notice,” he added.

The Secretary of Transport, Sean Duffy, stated that a communication failure has been registered affecting the 22 regional air traffic control centres responsible for the guidance of aircraft between airports, and added that FAA technicians are investigating the case.

National Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin today assured that the order to suspend take-offs at the country’s airports is not due to the terrorist threat, but to “an interruption in telecommunications”.

“ There is no reason for the public to be afraid or worried about their loved ones; this is not a new 9/11,” Mullin told reporters in the White House.

Mullin said that Donald Trump had already been informed about the situation and that the immediate priority was to ensure that the aircraft that were still in flight landed safely.

There is still no clear information on how long the interruption may last, it has advanced.

According to AP, which cites air safety experts, the problem appears to be similar to an interruption in regional air traffic control communications that took place in September, which affected hundreds of flights throughout the northeast region — with the difference that this time the impact was at national level.

The episode may be related to the obsolete technology used by air traffic controllers, the same experts advanced.

This is the first suspension of flights at national level in the United States since January 2023, when a critical IT system of the FAA failed. Before that, the latest occurrence of the gender had been following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Two communication failures affected flights in Newark in 2025, one of the three major airports serving New York.

The U.S. air control system is affected by obsolete infrastructure which, according to Duffy himself, make its technological modernization urgent.

The U.S. government has been working to modernise the obsolete technology on which air traffic controllers depend, since Congress last year approved $12.5 billion for the project.

The ongoing modernisation includes the replacement of miles of old copper wires with fiber optic lines, and the gradual exchange of old-fashioned radio systems at airports across the country.

However, Duffy stated that it will take another $30 billion to complete the project, and the White House began to articulate with Congress the approval of this amount.