US lifts nationwide ground stop, flights resume amid delays

The US Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide flight grounding order on the evening of November 13, 2026, after all flights were grounded for around four hours.

What happened

The ground stop was issued in the afternoon due to communication failures at multiple air traffic control centers. The FAA announced the order had been lifted, and US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said US airspace was reopened at 8:15 pm Eastern Time (01:15 GMT Saturday).

Duffy said officials restored full functionality at air traffic control facilities and that there was no evidence of foul play. He described the cause as a legacy system problem involving old switches, routers, and 1980s copper lines that became overloaded.

Impact on travel

According to FlightAware, as of 11 pm Eastern Time on November 13, there were 8,173 domestic and inbound/outbound flight delays and 7,507 cancellations in the United States. France 24 reported nearly 6,000 flights were cancelled, including some international routes.

Passengers faced long delays and confusion at airports. Some travelers were pulled off planes moments before departure. At New York's LaGuardia Airport, Tiara Johnson said her flight to Orlando was delayed repeatedly: "They just keep delaying it... So it started out at 7:55. Then it went to 8:30, 9:30. Now it's at 10:30. So we don't know when it's gonna leave."

Susan Sardina said she had boarded a flight back to Orange County, California when staff told passengers to get off: "We were already on our flight to leave and we were told to get off."

Official response

Duffy said returning to normal operations would take time and repeated his request for Congress to provide $30.1 billion to upgrade and modernize the air traffic control system. "I'm going to say it a million times: the Congress has to give the resources to the president so he can finish this bill," he said.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no evidence of a cyberattack or AI attack, and ruled out any connection with the Microsoft outage that affected email systems, public services, and businesses worldwide earlier in the week.

Why it matters

The incident was only the second time a nationwide ground stop had been issued in US airspace since the 9/11 attacks, the first having occurred in January 2023 when a pilot notification system failed. The disruption left hundreds of thousands of passengers in limbo and highlighted the age of the US air traffic control infrastructure.

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Sources

• france24.com: US flights resume amid gradual return to normal operations - France 24
• chinanews.com.cn (in Chinese): US Federal Aviation Administration: Nationwide flight grounding order lifted - China News Service

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.