The Federal Aviation Administration ground stop that halted every departing flight in the United States on Friday was lifted at 8:15 p.m. ET, ending more than four hours of nationwide disruption. The FAA ordered the halt after a telecommunications outage knocked out communications at air traffic control centres across the country.
More than 6,600 flights were cancelled and 8,600 delayed on Friday, according to flight tracker FlightRadar24, and another 1,500 flights were already cancelled for Sunday. Airlines warned that delays would compound for several days as aircraft and crews are moved back into position.
What went wrong on Friday afternoon
The trouble began at 3:36 p.m. ET, when radar and communications systems at air traffic control centres and terminal radar facilities across the country became unstable. Switches and routers carrying critical data became overloaded, producing inconsistent information and prompting the FAA to halt departures nationwide.
The agency issued the ground stop at 3:54 p.m. ET, citing extraordinary circumstances and reasons of safety. The outage affected all 22 of the country’s Air Route Traffic Control Centers, which guide aircraft travelling between airports.
Flights already in the air were allowed to continue to their destinations. More than 3,500 aircraft were airborne when the order came down, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, and all of them landed safely. Flights within Alaska and Hawaii were not affected, and medical evacuations, cargo carrying essential medicines and law-enforcement movements continued throughout.
It was only the third nationwide halt of all departures in American history, after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and a computer-system failure in January 2023, and the longest since 2001.
| Time (ET), Friday 13 November | What happened |
|---|---|
| 3:36 p.m. | Radar and communications instability begins at control centres nationwide |
| 3:54 p.m. | FAA issues nationwide ground stop for all departures |
| 4:02 p.m. | FAA statement cites a temporary telecommunications outage |
| 8:15 p.m. | Ground stop lifted; departures begin resuming |
The disruption by the numbers
The scale of the shutdown grew through the night as airlines tallied the damage. The figures below are the counts reported on Saturday morning and may still rise as carriers update their schedules.
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Flights cancelled on Friday | More than 6,600 | FlightRadar24 |
| Flights delayed on Friday | 8,600 | FlightRadar24 |
| Flights already cancelled for Sunday | 1,500 | FlightRadar24 |
| Flights diverted | At least 600 | Cirium |
| Aircraft airborne when the order came down | More than 3,500 | Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy |
| Air traffic control centres affected | 22 | FAA |
No evidence of a cyberattack, officials say
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters there was zero evidence so far that the outage was caused by a cyberattack or a rogue AI system. The FBI does not believe a cyberattack or criminal activity caused the failure, Bloomberg reported, citing an official familiar with the matter.
Mullin added that no one was ever in any danger and that every flight in the air was accounted for. Officials also said the failure was not connected to the Microsoft 365 outage earlier in the week, which knocked out Outlook, Teams and Copilot for hours.
Duffy said the new AI-powered air traffic management systems rolled out in recent weeks had nothing to do with the ground stop, and that systems recently upgraded from analog to digital did not experience the issues.
Duffy asks Congress for $50 billion to rebuild air traffic control
Duffy blamed the failure on the FAA’s legacy network, saying the agency is operating on 1980s-era software and hardware. At a White House briefing on Friday night, he called on Congress to pass an emergency funding bill worth $50 billion to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system.
Earlier on Friday, before the outage, the White House and the Department of Transportation had urged Congress to approve $30.1 billion to upgrade the country’s aging airports and air traffic control infrastructure. Congress approved $12.5 billion in July 2025 to begin that modernization effort, but Duffy said that money was not enough.
Duffy said the immediate problem had been fixed and that flying was safe, but he also said he could not guarantee a failure like this would not happen again. The warning sets up a funding fight in Congress, where the administration’s request has now nearly doubled in a single day.
What travellers should do now
Departures resumed on Friday night, but airlines warned that cancellations and delays would persist as schedules are restored. Passengers should check their flight status with their airline before heading to the airport, and expect rebooking to take longer than usual while aircraft and crews are out of position.
Duffy said he expected operations to be back up as travel builds toward Thanksgiving, which falls on Thursday, 26 November this year. Travellers flying in the days ahead should allow extra time at the airport and keep an eye on their airline’s app for schedule changes.
Frequently asked questions
Why did the FAA ground all flights on Friday?
A telecommunications outage hit the FAA’s air traffic control centres, overloading switches and routers and producing inconsistent radar and communications data. The agency halted all departures as a precaution while the problem was investigated.
How long did the ground stop last?
The nationwide ground stop ran from 3:54 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. ET on Friday, 13 November 2026 — four hours and 21 minutes.
Was the outage a cyberattack?
Officials said there was no evidence of a cyberattack. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was zero evidence so far of an attack or a rogue AI system, and the FBI does not believe a cyberattack caused the failure.
How many flights were affected?
FlightRadar24 counted more than 6,600 cancellations and 8,600 delays on Friday, with another 1,500 flights already cancelled for Sunday. At least 600 flights were diverted while the stop was in force.
Will flights be back to normal by Thanksgiving?
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he expected operations to recover as travel builds toward Thanksgiving on Thursday, 26 November. Airlines warned, however, that delays could compound for several days, so passengers should check their flight status before travelling.
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