FAA nationwide ground stop halts all US flights for four hours

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop on November 13, 2026, halting all U.S. flight departures for over four hours due to a telecommunications failure that overloaded outdated air traffic control routers. Over 3,500 airborne aircraft landed safely using backup protocols, and officials confirmed zero evidence of a cyberattack. The outage led to over 6,600 flight cancellations and stranded an estimated 1.5 million travelers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged Congress to approve $50 billion in emergency funding for a complete system overhaul.

Ground stop scope and initial action

• ▪The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop on November 13, 2026, halting all U.S. flight departures for over four hours due to telecommunications issues before lifting the order at 8:15 p.m. Eastern time
• ▪The November 13, 2026 ground stop was the first nationwide FAA flight halt since January 2023, when a pilot alert system failed
• ▪The Federal Aviation Administration requested Eurocontrol to suspend all US-bound flight departures from its 42 member countries until midnight Eastern time on November 13, 2026

Causes of the network outage

• ▪U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that air traffic control routers became overloaded with data and gave inconsistent readings, leading officials to shut down the nationwide network on November 13, 2026
• ▪An update to the L3Harris-operated private communications network that connects the U.S. air traffic control system caused a reboot, crash, and communications failure on November 13, 2026, according to CBS News sources
• ▪Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin explained that patching new technology into an existing framework overwhelmed the outdated air traffic control system, triggering the November 13, 2026 outage

Impact on travelers and airport operations

• ▪Amtrak reported technical issues on its website and app on November 13, 2026, as travelers sought alternative transportation during the FAA's nationwide flight grounding
• ▪Cirium estimated that 1.5 million people were stranded by flight cancellations during the November 13, 2026 Federal Aviation Administration ground stop
• ▪Major U.S. airports faced severe overcrowding and gate shortages on November 13, 2026, with Reagan National Airport running out of plane parking and stopping flight diversions
• ▪The November 13, 2026 flight ground stop led to over 15,000 flight delays and more than 6,600 cancellations across the United States, according to FlightAware data

Calls and funding for ATC modernization

• ▪Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged Congress to provide $50 billion in emergency funding to fully overhaul and modernize the nation's aging air traffic control system
• ▪The U.S. government previously secured $12.5 billion for air traffic control technology modernization through President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025