The Federal Aviation Administration says airplane departures can resume

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration says airplane departures can resume after the agency lifted a nationwide ground stop caused by communications problems.The FAA had grounded all flights nationwide Friday afternoon, causing hundreds of flights to be diverted. Officials cited “extraordinary circumstances” caused by communications problems at regional air traffic control centers.The nationwide ground stop was the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, and the second since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.The nation’s top homeland security official attributed the problem to a telecommunications outage and said there was no indication the communications failure was related to a cyberattack. The consequences were profound, disrupting potentially thousands of planned flights through at least late Friday night and upending travel plans for passengers.“It’s frustrating. This certainly sounds like it’s going to be more than the usu