Travelers across North Texas found themselves grounded and frustrated on September 19, 2025, as a widespread telecommunications outage brought air traffic to a near halt at Dallas’ two major airports—Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) scrambled to respond after air traffic controllers reported losing all radar and phone communications just after 4 p.m. local time, triggering ground stops and delays that rippled across the region and left thousands of passengers stranded, confused, and anxious.
The trouble began at Dallas TRACON, the Terminal Radar Approach Control facility that manages arrivals and departures for all area airports. According to the FAA, the root cause was not a failure within its own systems but a “local telephone company equipment issue.” The agency was quick to clarify in its public statements: “The FAA is slowing flights at Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport due to a reported local telephone company equipment issue that does not involve FAA equipment. The FAA is working with the telephone company to determine the cause.”
The impact was immediate and widespread. Both Love Field and DFW were placed under ground stop and ground delay orders, with the FAA also issuing ground stops for flights departing to Fort Worth Alliance Airport, McKinney National Airport, and Fort Worth Meacham International Airport. As reported by The Dallas Morning News, these interruptions began just after 4 p.m. and continued for several hours, with intermittent ground stops at Love Field finally lifted just before DFW received the all-clear later that night. Smaller airports such as Addison, Arlington, and Dallas Executive were not spared, as the FAA extended ground stops for arriving flights to virtually every significant airport across North Texas.
American Airlines, which operates a major hub at DFW, was particularly hard hit. As of 6 p.m., FlightAware’s Misery Map showed 668 delayed flights at DFW and 167 at Love Field. By Friday evening, cancellations at DFW had climbed to over 430, with delays topping 580. Love Field saw over 190 delays, and the numbers kept rising as the evening wore on. “We just kept getting delayed, delayed,” passenger Krysta Wagner told CNN as she waited in line to rebook at DFW. For some, the situation was so dire that travel plans were completely upended. “There’s actually about it looks like about another half hour to wait,” said Kevin Hensley, who decided to give up on getting home to Boston that night after standing in line for more than thirty minutes. “I have a flight tomorrow morning. I’m just going to take that.”
Other travelers faced even more consequential disruptions. Marion Anson-Perchal from Wichita Falls was headed to Florida but found her flight canceled, putting her cruise plans in jeopardy. “Hopefully they can rebook us and get us to Miami before 12 tomorrow, or we are going to miss our cruise,” she said. Jude Ohumahebulem, whose family was bound for Barcelona, reported, “Our flight was supposed to depart at 5 p.m. and now it’s delayed until 7 p.m., which is about two hours from the original plan. They didn’t explain the reason why.” Anxiety ran high, with travelers like Yemi Ohumahebulem adding, “I’m very, very anxious because we are going to Barcelona on a cruise tomorrow and our family and friends are waiting in Barcelona. I’m keeping my hands crossed.”
For those already in the air, the outage brought further complications. Jana Lowry recalled, “We were approaching, and then they said that they lost communications, and then we circled for a little bit, and then we were running out of fuel, so then they diverted us over to Austin.” Wayne Shemwell, whose flight from Louisville to Love Field was delayed by three hours and diverted to Oklahoma City, described the experience: “A couple of people did go down to the front of the plane and ask, 'Can I just get off right here?' They said, 'Nope you can’t do that.' All in all. Not too bad.”
Audio recorded by LiveATC.net captured the tense moments in the control towers. “We’ve lost all radar and phone communications,” a Love Field controller announced. “I’m not departing anybody until we can get a system setup. We have no comms on approach right now.” When a Southwest pilot radioed in, “Approach wanted to pass on to you to stop all departures. They can’t get a hold of you. They are having some com issues, I guess,” the controller replied, “Yeah, I think the entire Metroplex just went down. We got a hold of somebody.” At DFW, controllers told pilots, “I am currently stopped on all departures. This (also) happened a couple of days ago where somebody cut a line and we lost everything, so bear with me… I have no idea how long we are going to be stopped.”
The FAA, for its part, issued repeated advisories for passengers to check with their airlines for the most current information. American Airlines responded by issuing a travel alert, waiving change fees for affected customers, while Southwest Airlines relaxed its rules for passengers wishing to fly on different days or seek refunds—even for non-refundable tickets. “We are resuming normal operations and will do our best to minimize further delays,” said FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford. Travel experts advised, “First try to self-serve within the carrier’s app before trying to break through the long phone lines.”
Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican representing Texas, acknowledged the scale of the problem on social media. “My team and I are aware of grounded flights at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love Field (DAL). 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.”
Remarkably, on the same day that air traffic was at a standstill, the Dallas area saw a Guinness World Record set for “most deliveries by UAV drones in one hour.” Walmart and rapper Cardi B orchestrated 176 drone deliveries, dropping off Cardi’s new album “Am I the Drama?” to fans across the city. “My album has been literally flying off the shelves,” Cardi B quipped in a promo for the event. The FAA did not comment on whether the surge in drone activity contributed to the telecommunications issues, and Walmart’s drone operator Wings did not respond to requests for comment.
While the FAA and local telephone company worked to restore communications, the disruption drew attention to the vulnerabilities of the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure. Earlier in 2025, similar telecommunications failures in New York and Philadelphia caused chaos at Newark Liberty International Airport, prompting Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy to call for a costly overhaul of the air traffic control system. “It’s a substantial piece of work and will take a substantial amount of money,” Duffy stated earlier this year.
By late Friday night, normal operations had resumed at Love Field and DFW, but the ordeal left travelers and aviation officials alike with lingering questions about the resilience of the systems that keep the nation’s skies safe and moving.
