US lifts nationwide ground stop on flights caused by communications failure
The FAA lifted a nationwide ground stop after a communications failure at air traffic control centres halted departing flights across the United States.
The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, 2026, after a communications failure at air traffic control centres halted departing flights across the United States for more than four hours. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that US airspace reopened at 8:15pm Eastern Time, though he warned that departures would resume gradually and that airlines would need time to restore normal operations.
The disruption began at approximately 3:36pm Eastern Time, when air traffic control centres experienced instability in radar and communications systems. Duffy said switches and routers carrying critical data became overloaded, producing inconsistent information and prompting officials to halt departures nationwide as a safety precaution. He stressed that authorities never completely lost radar or communications, and that thousands of aircraft were able to land safely.
Media additions
“Our switches, our routers actually got overloaded with data and they started to give us inconsistencies in the data from those routers and because of that we shut the system down,” Duffy told reporters at the White House.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was “zero evidence” so far that the outage resulted from a cyberattack or a rogue artificial intelligence system, though investigators had not ruled out either possibility. “It appears this was mechanically driven, however, we’re still looking,” Mullin said. He added that the National Security Agency was working with the Department of Homeland Security on the investigation.
The ground stop marked the longest nationwide flight suspension in the United States since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The only other nationwide ground stop since then occurred in January 2023, when the FAA suspended domestic departures for approximately 90 minutes following an outage involving its Notice to Air Missions system.
| Metric / Detail | Reported Figure | Source Attribution |
|---|---|---|
| Duration of Ground Stop | More than four hours | Al Jazeera |
| Flight Cancellations | More than 6,600 flights cancelled | The Straits Times |
| Flight Delays | 8,600 delayed | The Straits Times |
| Passengers Stranded | Tens of thousands | The Straits Times |
| Flights in the Air at Time of Ground Stop | 4,042 flights | Al Jazeera |
| Air Route Traffic Control Centres Affected | 22 centres | Al Jazeera |
Duffy blamed inadequate congressional funding for delays in modernising the country’s air traffic control system, calling for US$50 billion to overhaul the infrastructure. Earlier on Friday, before the disruption, the White House and the Department of Transportation had urged Congress to approve US$30.1 billion for upgrades to the nation’s ageing airports and air traffic control infrastructure.
“What we have is an incredibly old air traffic control system,” Duffy said.
The disruption triggered cascading international and domestic effects. Canadian travellers heading to the United States faced significant delays and cancellations, with cross-border connections disrupted at major hubs including Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. Flights returning to Canada could also be affected because aircraft and crews may be unable to depart American airports as scheduled.
Amtrak, the US national rail operator, announced that its website and app were showing error messages and that customers were having difficulty reaching a representative, as it faced higher-than-normal call volumes because of the nationwide disruption to air travel.
The latest disruption also weighed on airline stocks, with shares of American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines falling between one and two per cent in after-hours trading, while JetBlue Airways dropped about three per cent.
What to Watch Next
- Airlines working to reposition displaced aircraft and flight crews through the weekend, leading to rolling residual delays.
- Congressional hearings and investigations into the FAA communication issues.
- Ongoing debate over US$50 billion in requested funding to modernise the ageing air traffic control system.
Further updates on global transportation impacts and regional recovery efforts can be followed through World coverage.
