What happened? The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted departures from every airport in the United States on Friday afternoon, 13 November 2026. The order took effect at 3:54 pm Eastern Time, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced it on X shortly afterwards.
What caused it? The FAA said: "There has been a temporary telecommunications outage." It added that all flights had been halted out of an abundance of caution. Duffy described "a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers" and said FAA technicians were investigating. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication so far of a deliberate attack.
What about planes already in the air? Flights already airborne continued to their destinations. "Every flight has been accounted for, and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis," the FAA said.
How many flights were affected? By 6:04 pm Eastern Time, FlightAware counted 1,913 cancellations and 10,494 delays within the United States, with numbers expected to rise overnight.
What is the status now? As of Friday evening Eastern Time the ground stop remained in place, the FAA had not given a time for departures to resume, and Mullin said there was no timeline for restarting flights. United Airlines said it "will work with our customers to get them to their destinations once this issue is resolved."
Has this happened before? It is only the second nationwide ground stop since 2001. The first came in January 2023, when the FAA's pilot notice system failed.
Source: FAA, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News
