FAA Orders Nationwide Ground Stop as Air Traffic Control Communications Fail
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights on Friday afternoon, November 13, 2026, after a communications failure knocked out the air traffic control centers that guide planes between airports across the United States. The order, issued at 3:54 p.m. Eastern Time, held every departing aircraft on the ground until further notice and left more than 10,000 flights delayed and thousands more canceled by Friday evening.
Planes already in the air were allowed to continue to their destinations, and inbound international flights were handled case by case. The disruption spread beyond US borders, with flights between the United States and Canada held or delayed at airports across Canada even though Canadian air traffic systems were never affected.
What the FAA Ordered
The order came in Advisory 111 from the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center, titled "National Ground Stop." It read: "Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety. Attention all aircraft operators, by order of the Federal Aviation Command Center all airports are ground stopped. All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice. Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis."
The advisory window ran to 4:00 a.m. UTC on Saturday, November 14, which is 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday. A follow-up advisory, number 120, issued at 5:46 p.m. Eastern Time, kept the stop in effect but said flights would be allowed to depart in stages as en route facilities recovered, through coordination with the Air Traffic Control System Command Center.
The FAA confirmed the stop in a statement carried by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on X: "The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide updates."
What Caused the Outage
The immediate problem was a telecommunications outage affecting the 22 regional Air Route Traffic Control Centers that manage aircraft traveling between airport areas. The FAA has not confirmed the underlying technical cause, and its technicians were still investigating on Friday evening.
CBS News reported that an update to the private communications network connecting the entire national air traffic control system was pushed out on Friday and crashed the whole system. That network is reportedly operated by the technology company L3Harris. Bloomberg and the New York Post reported that investigators were probing whether a software update caused the outage, and the FBI was reported to be looking into the software update angle as well.
For now, a communications fault is the confirmed symptom. The original trigger and the full chain of failures still require investigation, and neither the FAA nor Secretary Duffy has said what failed or given a time for a full return to normal departures.
No Sign of an Attack, Officials Say
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin briefed reporters outside the White House on Friday evening and said there was "no indication this was a nefarious attack." Mullin added that the disruption was not a safety threat to the American people and said, "This isn't another 9/11."
No public evidence reviewed in the reporting so far establishes a cyberattack, terrorism, or military action as the cause. The phrase "extraordinary circumstances" in the FAA advisory described the safety reason for the unusual step of stopping departures nationwide. It is not itself a diagnosis of the cause, and officials have not pointed to any national security threat.
How Bad the Disruption Got
By about 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, FlightAware counted more than 10,000 US flights delayed and 2,500 canceled, figures reported by the Associated Press. Later counts put the totals even higher, with NBC News reporting more than 10,200 flights delayed and over 4,000 canceled in the United States alone.
The stop came at a difficult moment for American aviation. A 43-day government shutdown ended on November 12, and an FAA order cutting domestic flights was still in force on Friday, with cuts stepping up from 4 percent of domestic flights and scheduled to reach 10 percent on November 14. The ground stop piled a sudden, total halt on top of those planned reductions.
Travelers filled terminals across the country as departure boards flipped to delays and cancellations. Airlines warned that even after the stop ended, the problems would snowball, because crews run into their legal duty limits and planes and pilots end up in the wrong cities, so delays and cancellations can carry into Saturday.
Flights Begin Moving Again in Stages
By 6:55 p.m. Eastern Time, the FAA National Airspace System status board no longer showed a nationwide ground stop in force, though ground delay programs remained in place at several airports. The FAA did not issue a single announcement declaring the stop lifted.
Some flights were cleared individually before the board cleared. At San Francisco International Airport, Pacific-bound flights, including services to Hawaii and Asia, were cleared to depart from 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines confirmed that all West Coast flights would resume, according to Hawaii's Department of Transportation. Aviation publication The Air Current reported that the FAA had begun clearing some flights from the United States to Europe individually.
The FAA's next scheduled update was expected at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday. Officials gave no timeline for a full return to normal, and CNN reported that officials had no timeline for resolving the stop. Secretary Mullin said he expected an extended process.
How Rare Is a Nationwide Ground Stop?
Friday's order was only the second nationwide ground stop of all departures since the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to Reuters. The first came in January 2023, when a malfunction in the FAA system that sends safety alerts to pilots halted domestic departures for less than two hours. Some reports count Friday as only the third such shutdown in 25 years.
Ground stops for a single airport or a region are routine in bad weather or after local equipment failures. A nationwide stop of every departure is different. It is reserved for a failure that threatens the system as a whole, which is why the wording of Advisory 111, "extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," drew so much attention on Friday afternoon.
What Travelers Should Do
Travelers should check their airline directly for flight-specific status rather than assuming all flights will immediately restart when the ground stop is lifted. Saturday flights remain on airline schedules, but a scheduled flight is not a guarantee it will depart while the system recovers.
Passengers with canceled flights should contact their airline about rebooking, refunds, or hotel and meal support. For the latest travel updates and flight status information, check with your carrier before heading to the airport. Anyone flying on Saturday, November 14, should allow extra time and expect delays even after normal operations resume, because aircraft and crews will still be working back into position.
Frequently Asked Questions
What caused the FAA nationwide ground stop?
A telecommunications failure affected all 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers, the facilities that guide planes between airports. CBS News reported that an update to the private communications network run by L3Harris crashed the system. The FAA has not confirmed the underlying cause, and investigators are probing whether a software update was responsible.
Was the ground stop a cyberattack or terrorism?
Officials have said there is no indication of that. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters there was "no indication this was a nefarious attack" and said the disruption was not another 9/11. No public evidence has established a cyberattack, terrorism, or military action as the cause.
When will flights return to normal?
There is no confirmed time for a full return to normal. Departures began resuming in stages from 5:46 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday as en route facilities recovered, and the FAA status board no longer showed a nationwide stop by 6:55 p.m. But officials gave no timeline, and delays and cancellations were expected to carry into Saturday as airlines work aircraft and crews back into position.
How many flights were affected?
By about 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, more than 10,000 US flights had been delayed and 2,500 canceled, according to FlightAware figures reported by the Associated Press. Later counts from NBC News put the totals at more than 10,200 delayed and over 4,000 canceled in the United States alone.
What happened to planes already in the air?
Planes already airborne were not ordered to land immediately. They were allowed to continue to their destinations under available air traffic control instructions. The ground stop applied to departing traffic, while inbound international flights were managed on a case by case basis.
Has this happened before?
Yes, but rarely. Friday's order was only the second nationwide ground stop of all departures since the September 11, 2001, attacks, according to Reuters. The previous one came in January 2023, when a failure in the FAA pilot notification system halted domestic departures for less than two hours.
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