US grounds all departing flights over an air traffic control communications failure

Verified: 71 outlets in 37 countries have reported this story since Nov 13, 13 of them from the United States.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday ordered a halt to all flights departing from the country’s airports “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety”, following a communications failure affecting air traffic control centres. Thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed and hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded. The government has so far ruled out an attack.