All Bay Area Flights Grounded Amid Nationwide FAA Outage

Planes are not departing from San Francisco International, Oakland San Francisco Bay, Sacramento International and San José Mineta airports, after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for all departures Friday.

The FAA issued an advisory shortly before 1 p.m. that all airports were ground stopped due to “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” 

“All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice,” the FAA advisory said, which will remain in effect through 8 p.m. PST.

SFO, OAK and San José Mineta confirmed that planes are not departing from their airports. Doug Yakel, spokesperson for SFO, said that aircrafts already en route to the airport will still be able to land, but the airport doesn’t yet know the nature of the outage. 

SFO and OAK both said in statements that they are monitoring the situation and travelers should check directly with their airlines for the latest information regarding flight statuses.

“Flight delays are expected,” OAK said in a statement. 

Delta and United Airlines shared statements on their website acknowledging the stop. United said that passengers can check their flight status and rebook on its website or the United app. 

The Governor’s Office said in a statement that the state is “closely monitoring” the ground stop, and is “in contact with federal and state partners to assess impacts on California airports and passengers.”

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said on social media that the stop was issued “following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.” 

“FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” Duffy wrote. 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that there was no “prior indication — no indication as of yet — that this was a nefarious attack against us.” 

“Everybody’s safe, there is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they’re flying or anything like that,” Mullin said. 

It’s the first nationwide ground stop since the beginning of 2023, according to reporting by The Associated Press.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

KQED’s Natalia Navarro and Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman contributed to this report.