FAA Grounding Causes Flight Cancellations and Delays in Alaska

Dozens of travelers stood bewildered at baggage claim at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on Friday as a nationwide telecommunications outage forced federal aviation authorities to ground flights across the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration halted thousands of flights due to communications problems at regional air traffic control centers, attributing the disruption to a temporary telecommunications outage, Alaska Public Media reported. It marks only the second mass grounding of flights in the United States since the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001.

Federal officials stated on Friday night that the problems were not the result of a nefarious act and that there were no indications the safety of passengers already in the air was at risk. A regional FAA spokesperson did not respond to calls or texts throughout the day.

Special Report: FAA orders nationwide ground stop after 'telecommunications outage' — NBC News

The resulting confusion stretched across Alaska, where many flights within the state continued operating normally while departures to the Lower 48 faced heavy restrictions. Hailey Standish, a spokeswoman for both the Anchorage and Fairbanks International airports, confirmed that both facilities remained open despite the nationwide halt.

“Flights departing Alaska for the Lower 48 are being held at the direction of the FAA,” Standish said, adding that arriving flights, including international arrivals, were being managed on a case-by-case basis. In-state flights from Juneau International Airport also operated normally, according to that airport’s manager.

Alaska Airlines spokesman Tim Thompson confirmed in an email that the carrier’s flights within Alaska were not impacted, while another airline spokesperson said that flights to Hawaii remained on schedule. Skylar Burns, traveling from Anchorage to Honolulu, found his flight was still cleared for departure, though he said that his son faced cancellations trying to fly to Honolulu from Calgary.

For many passengers crossing state lines, however, the day dissolved into missed connections and rearranged holidays. Fairbanks college student Samuel Hambrick arrived in Anchorage on Friday afternoon to catch a connecting Grant Aviation flight to Kenai.

FAA grounds all flights nationwide over air traffic control communications outage — 13WHAM ABC News

“Going down to Homer for Thanksgiving break,” Hambrick said. “And as soon as I got in, I just noticed a delay, and then I saw in the news that everything’s getting shut down, and my flight to Kenai got canceled. So I’m just trying to find a way home, pretty much.”

Other travelers encountered a disconnect between airline applications and real-time gate conditions. Rosie Hensley experienced a delay flying into Anchorage from Kotzebue, though her mobile app indicated the flight had already departed while she was still on the ground. Hensley was ultimately bound for Phoenix, but her connecting flight out of Alaska faced delays.

FAA ground stop causing flight chaos, traveler confusion: Latest conditions — FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul

Jarod Taylor, who had been working in Kodiak and intended to fly home to Walla, Washington, watched his flight get delayed before returning to the Anchorage airport in the afternoon.

“I got back here, and then all of a sudden, just like just recently, they were like, ‘The flight got canceled,'” Taylor said. “So I was like, ‘Oh, I’m confused.’ So I’ve been trying to ask people, you know, what’s going on? So I showed up here.”

Aerial view of ted stevens international airport anchorage alaska

Dan Kline, visiting Anchorage on business and attempting to return to Seattle, learned about the nationwide grounding roughly two hours before scheduled departure.

“Nothing was changing online, so I came to the airport as if everything was normal when I got here, until I got through security,” Kline said. “And on the gate, it still said boarding at the normal time, and then all of a sudden went from boarding to canceled.”

Standish stated on Friday afternoon that a confirmed number of impacted flights to or from Alaska was not yet available, advising all affected passengers to contact their carriers directly to resolve their travel plans.