Nationwide Ground Stop Affects Airports Across Country, Including TVC

A rare nationwide ground stop on all departing flights ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is creating major travel disruptions across the country, including at Cherry Capital Airport.

The FAA said the ground stop was "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," but did not further elaborate.  Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, said on social media that the ground stop follows "a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates we have them."

Under such a ground stop, flights already ​in the air can land, but flights ⁠on the ground cannot take off. Kevin Klein at Cherry Capital Airport told The Ticker he was informed that TVC would hear an update at 5pm EST. This is only the second nationwide group stop to occur since 9/11; the other occured in January 2023 following a failure of the FAA's Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. The group stop is expected to have travel ramifications throughout the weekend.