Dallas’ two major airports were thrown into chaos Friday afternoon as the Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop after controllers “lost all radar and phone communications,” according to officials and reports.
Dallas Love Field is under a ground delay, while Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is under both a ground stop and a ground delay after communications equipment malfunctions popped up just after 4 p.m. local time, according to the FAA.
“The FAA is slowing flights at Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport due to a reported local telephone company equipment issue that does not involve FAA equipment,” the flight safety agency said.
American Airlines passenger jets parked at their gates on a rainy morning at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport which serves the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, metroplex area in Texas. Getty Images
“The FAA is working with the telephone company to determine the cause.”
The technical issues impacted Dallas TRACON — the Terminal Radar Approach Control facility which handles arrivals and departures at both airports, local Fox affiliate KDFW reported, citing officials.
One air controller in the Love Field Air Traffic Control tower made the announcement that he lost all contact with planes.
“We’ve lost all radar and phone communications,” he said, according to audio recorded by LiveATC.net, CNN reported.
“I’m not departing anybody until we can get a system setup. We have no comms on approach right now.”
The issues are expected to persist for several more hours. Nay – stock.adobe.com
Officials also issued a ground stop for flights departing to Fort Worth Alliance Airport, McKinney National Airport and Fort Worth Meacham International Airport, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The FAA has not specified whether those ground stops were related to the same technical issue, the outlet reported.
Dallas Love Field is home to the Southwest Airlines headquarters. The airline had no comment on the telecommunications issues on Friday.
Roughly 200,000 people pass through on around 1,900 daily flights at Dallas-Fort Worth, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The two popular Texas airports are about 15 miles away from each other. Dallas TRACON, which is experiencing the outages, is headquartered at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz assured his Texan constituents that he was on top of the problem.
“My team and I are aware of grounded flights at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love Field (DAL),” Cruz wrote on X.
“We have been in touch with the FAA and airlines and are monitoring the situation and urge the flying public to remain patient as officials remedy the situation as soon as possible.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.