The FAA lifted a nationwide ground stop after a telecommunications outage halted departures for more than four hours. More than 7,700 flights were canceled and more than 8,000 delayed, with additional cancellations carrying into the next day.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop Friday evening, November 13, U.S. Eastern Time, after a telecommunications outage affecting air-traffic-control operations halted departures for more than four hours.
The FAA ordered departing aircraft to remain on the ground nationwide, citing "extraordinary circumstances" and "reasons of safety." Aircraft already airborne continued flying, while international arrivals were handled individually. The agency said the telecommunications outage affected multiple air-traffic-control centers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said overloaded routers were producing inconsistent data, prompting the precautionary suspension. The FAA announced around 8:30 p.m. ET that "The FAA Command Center nationwide ground stop has been cancelled."
More than 7,700 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled Friday, while more than 8,000 were delayed, CNN reported, citing FlightAware. These were daily disruption totals, rather than a confirmed count of flights affected solely by the outage.
Aviation analytics firm Cirium estimated that approximately 1.5 million passengers were stranded by cancellations, according to CNN. The figure was an industry estimate, not an official FAA tally.
Although departures resumed Friday evening, the disruption carried into the next day, with more than 2,000 additional cancellations reported as airlines worked to reposition aircraft and crews and accommodate stranded travelers.
The outage halted departures across the country for more than four hours and left more than 7,700 flights canceled and more than 8,000 delayed, with the disruption extending beyond the day of the outage as airlines worked to recover.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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