Flights halted at airports across US due to air traffic control communications problems

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide Friday afternoon for just the second time since the Sept. 11 attacks, with officials citing “extraordinary circumstances” caused by communications problems at regional air traffic control centers.

The nation’s top homeland security official attributed the problem to a telecommunications outage and said there was no indication yet of a nefarious act. But the consequences were profound, disrupting potentially thousands of planned flights through at least late Friday night and upending travel plans for passengers who were heading home, expected as wedding guests or had other weekend plans.

“It’s frustrating. This certainly sounds like it’s going to be more than the usual run of the mill delay.