FAA investigates Denver ATC failure
May 18, 2025
US aviation authorities are probing a temporary communications outage that occurred at a major air traffic control centre in Colorado earlier this week, as questions grow over the resilience of the Federal Aviation Administration’s infrastructure.
Controllers at the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center briefly lost the ability to communicate with aircraft for about 90 seconds on 12 May.
According to the FAA, a set of transmitters covering a section of the airspace failed, but instructions were quickly relayed via an alternative frequency.
“Aircraft remained safely separated and there were no impacts to operations,” the FAA said in a statement, adding that an investigation into the incident is underway.
The Denver Center oversees a vast swathe of US airspace, covering some 285,000 square miles.
This latest glitch follows a string of recent technical failures at other FAA-operated facilities.
In particular, a persistent issue at the air traffic control centre responsible for Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey has sparked concern, after a series of failures beginning on 28 April led to radar and radio blackouts. The problems have caused flight delays and cancellations that continue to ripple across the network.
The FAA is under increasing pressure to modernise its ageing systems and address staffing and technical vulnerabilities that have come under scrutiny in recent months.
