The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop Friday evening after a communications outage affected multiple centers that guide aircraft between airports. The FAA said departures could resume after a pause that the AP put at about five hours. Airlines faced further delays because aircraft and crews were out of position, The Associated Press reported.
The FAA halted departures Friday afternoon as a safety measure. A ground stop holds flights at their departure airports. Aircraft already in the air still had to be managed, and some returned to their origin or landed at another airport. The AP reported that international flights were handled case by case during the disruption.
At 7:05 p.m. Eastern on Friday, aviation analytics firm Cirium had counted 827 flights that returned to their departure airports or diverted elsewhere, according to the AP. Of those, 670 returned to their departure airports and 157 went to other airports. The tally was a snapshot of returns and diversions. By 5:15 a.m. Eastern Saturday, FlightAware had counted nearly 3,300 cancellations and nearly 1,000 delays for flights into, out of or within the United States, Axios reported. Those figures capture the continuing disruption after the stop ended.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said older communications equipment was overwhelmed by data. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said officials were examining how newer technology interacted with legacy equipment and saw no evidence of a cyberattack at that point. Officials were still investigating the initial trigger. Duffy said the FAA’s new tool for recommending flight routes was separate from the equipment that failed.
The AP reported that this was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a system for distributing notices to pilots failed. Friday’s disruption affected communications at en route control centers. Duffy used the evening briefing to call for more funding to upgrade air traffic control equipment.
Editorial Opinion
The FAA should publish a timeline that explains which equipment failed, when backup communications were available, and what allowed controllers to resume departures. That account would help Congress judge which upgrades would reduce the risk of another nationwide stop and whether the transition to new equipment needs additional safeguards.
References
Federal Aviation Administration. (n.d.). Advisory information help.
Funk, J., & Weissert, W. (2026, November 13). Trump administration blames ‘overloaded’ systems for ground stop after FAA lets flights resume. Associated Press.
FAA ends hours-long nationwide ground stop. (2026, November 13). Axios.
Reuters. (2026, November 14). US lifts nationwide flight shutdown caused by communications failure. Taiwan News.
Berkowitz, B. (2026, November 14). 3,000 flights cancelled as FAA ground stop chaos stretches into 2nd day. Axios.
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