WASHINGTON / MENA Newswire / – Thousands of U.S. flights were canceled, delayed or diverted after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, over a communications outage at air traffic control centers. The order suspended departures from all U.S. airports for more than four hours. The FAA lifted it at about 8:15 p.m. ET, but disruptions were expected to continue into the weekend.
Aviation data firm Cirium said about 11,000 flights, carrying roughly 1.5 million passengers, had been scheduled to leave after 4 p.m. ET, when the stop took effect. Around 600 flights were diverted. JetBlue canceled its remaining Friday flights, except for European routes, and some flights on Saturday. Other airlines also faced long delays as departures slowly resumed. The halt hit during a busy Friday evening travel period.
The FAA said the problem was a temporary telecommunications outage affecting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers, which manage high-altitude traffic. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said incoming international flights would be handled on a case-by-case basis. International departures from coastal hubs began resuming before 6 p.m. ET, according to CNBC. Duffy said there was no total loss of radar. The FAA said departures would resume through coordination with the air traffic control system.
No sign of cyberattack
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the outage did not appear to be a cyberattack and appeared to be mechanically driven. Duffy said routers were overloaded with data and went down, though officials were still working out the details. CBS News reported, citing sources, that an update to the private network linking the air traffic control system, run by L3Harris, caused it to reboot. Officials have not confirmed that report.
Duffy warned that the air traffic control system is going to continue to fail without more investment, and pressed Congress for more money for the modernization effort. The system has faced mounting strains, including delays during last year’s government shutdown. Officials have not confirmed what first triggered the outage, and the investigation is continuing. The FAA has been working on a multiyear overhaul of aging radar, radio and telecommunications equipment.
Travel disruptions continue
The halt was only the second nationwide ground stop since 2001, following a January 2023 failure of the pilot alert system. That earlier outage halted departures across the country for several hours. Flight disruptions have hit U.S. travelers repeatedly this year, including when a powerful storm caused flight chaos in the Northeast in September. The latest outage comes less than two weeks before the busy Thanksgiving travel period.
Departures resumed gradually after the FAA lifted the order, through coordination with the air traffic control system. Delays were expected to continue as airlines rebuilt schedules and moved aircraft back into position. Officials have not said when they will release a full account of what happened, or what steps will be taken to prevent a repeat. Travelers can check flight status with their airlines before heading to airports. The FAA has not given a final count of affected flights.