The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all departing flights nationwide on Friday after a communications failure hit air traffic control centres across the country, in only the second nationwide halt of all departures since the attacks of 11 September 2001.
The directive, which took effect at 3.54pm Eastern Time (8.54pm GMT), told aircraft on the ground to stay put until further notice. Planes already in the air were allowed to land, and international flights heading to the United States were being handled on a case-by-case basis. Flight tracking service FlightAware said nearly 7,000 flights had been delayed or cancelled.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said the stop followed “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers” and that FAA technicians were investigating. Shortly before the nationwide order, the FAA had halted traffic in Chicago because of air traffic control communications problems. The FAA advisory listed the stop as running until 11.30pm Eastern Time, but stressed that departures were grounded until further notice and gave no estimate for when normal operations would resume.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters outside the White House that a “telecommunication outage throughout FAA” was behind the stoppage, and that there was no sign so far of a hostile act. “There is no prior indication as of yet that this was nefarious attack against us,” he said. “It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now.”
The disruption is the latest sign of strain on an air traffic control system beset by equipment failures, communications problems and controller shortages while the FAA tries to replace ageing infrastructure. Congress approved $12.5 billion for the overhaul last year, and the FAA and the White House asked lawmakers on Friday for a further $30.1 billion. The only other nationwide stop of all departures since 11 September 2001 came in January 2023, when a failure in the system that distributes safety notices to flight crews halted domestic departures for less than two hours.
The cause of the communications failure has not yet been established, and the official account rests on statements from the FAA and the Department of Homeland Security; the FAA has not said when the system will be restored.
Sources: Reuters, “US grounds flights nationwide after air traffic control communications outage” (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/faa-issues-national-ground-stop-due-extraordinary-circumstance-reasons-safety-2026-11-13/); USA Today, “FAA orders flights to remain grounded nationwide” (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/11/13/faa-orders-nationwide-groundstop-at-us-airports-citing-safety/92765499007/).
