Ground stop at BWI ends after hours-long delay

A rare nationwide ground stop on all departing U.S. flights that lasted hours was lifted on Friday night, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. 

The FAA and White House said the issue appeared to have been caused by a "telecommunication outage."  

All flights at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport were halted during the nationwide FAA-ordered ground stop, which affected all commercial airline departures. 

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a post on X that the nationwide ground stop was ordered due to "a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers." 

A spokesperson for BWI confirmed that all airline departures at the airport were being held.

"Travelers are advised to check with their airlines for updated flight status information," the spokesperson said. "We will provide updated information to travelers when we receive further details."