PAL says monitoring disruption of US flights

MANILA — The Philippine Airlines on Saturday said it is “closely monitoring” the grounding of flights in the United States, which has caused travel chaos in the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration “issued a nationwide ground stop for all US airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” the agency said.

In a subsequent message on X, the agency described the problem as “a temporary telecommunications outage” and said it was acting “out of an abundance of caution.”

“PAL is closely monitoring the ground stop implemented by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which has affected air traffic operations across the United States,” the airlines said in a statement.

“PAL flights already airborne and bound for the United States are allowed to proceed to their destinations. PAL flights to and from U.S. airports are being monitored on a per-flight basis,” it added.

“Passengers are advised to check their flight status through PAL’s official communication channels for the latest updates.”

Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippine’s ambassador to the United States, said in a DZMM interview that a “cyberattack” may be the reason for the grounding of the flights.

“I think this is a cybersecurity problem kaya ‘pag ganiyan, automatic ‘yan dahil nadi-disrupt ‘yung kanilang mga flights,” he said. “Lahat ‘yan computerized eh.”

The incident marked only the second time such an alert was given in US airspace since the 9/11 attacks.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no sign of a threat to the United States.

— with Agence France-Presse