All flights from several major US airlines, including Delta, United, and American Airlines, were grounded on Friday morning due to a communication issue, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA confirmed that the ground stop impacts all flights from these airlines, regardless of their destination.
CNN reports that it is unclear how long the ground stop will last, though the FAA suggested an update would be available by 5 a.m. ET.
This grounding follows a significant Microsoft outage that brought Frontier Airlines to a standstill for hours on Thursday. While the ground stop for Frontier has since been lifted, the airline’s systems were heavily impacted by the outage, prompting Frontier to offer refunds to affected passengers.
Other airlines, including Allegiant and Sun Country, also experienced difficulties with booking, check-in, and trip-managing functions online. On Friday morning, the FAA announced that all Allegiant flights would be grounded.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud software status report indicated that service went down for some customers in the central United States around 6 p.m. ET on Thursday. The company reported failures with service management operations and connectivity, affecting the availability of services. Microsoft has identified the cause and is working on a fix, though a company spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The situation continues to develop, with passengers and airlines awaiting further updates from the FAA.
