Information checked: November 14, 2026, at 01:14 UTC (1:14 a.m. GMT in London, UTC+00:00; 8:14 p.m. EST on November 13 in Washington, D.C., UTC−05:00).
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a rare nationwide ground stop for U.S. departures on Friday, November 13, 2026, following a telecommunications outage affecting the country’s 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The immediate reason for holding aircraft was safety: controllers could not rely on normal communications across the national airspace system. Officials confirmed the disruption, but had not identified a verified technical root cause in the sources available at this check.
The FAA said departing aircraft should remain on the ground until further notice, while international flights were being managed case by case. Aircraft already airborne were not automatically ordered to land immediately; controllers continued handling those flights. Reports available during this check did not establish that nationwide normal operations had resumed, so a projected end time should not be mistaken for confirmation that the stop has ended.
Destaques
The FAA took the preventive step because a problem in the telecommunications infrastructure used by Air Route Traffic Control Centers could affect coordination of flights between regions. These centers are responsible for aircraft traveling across large areas of airspace, rather than only the final approach or runway movements at an individual airport. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said technicians were investigating a communications issue impacting all of those centers. The agency described the episode as a temporary telecommunications outage.
This distinction matters: a confirmed communications interruption explains why the FAA stopped departures, but it does not establish what physical device, network service, software change or other event caused the interruption. As of the information check, attributing the outage to a cyberattack, the FAA’s newly introduced SMART technology, or a separate commercial technology outage would go beyond the confirmed findings. Officials reported no evidence at that point of terrorism or deliberate sabotage; that is not the same as a completed technical investigation.
The original November 13 FAA Command Center advisory was signed at approximately 20:54 UTC, which was 3:54 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (UTC−05:00) in Washington, D.C., and 8:54 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+00:00) in London. The FAA Command Center advisory reference is the primary notice for the original order, although direct retrieval of its historical page was not consistently available during this check. The advisory wording and timing were also corroborated by contemporary reporting and subsequent FAA statements.
Later advisories described the problem as a communications failure and said the ground stop remained in effect while facilities recovered. Aviation notices may display planned review or expiry times; those are administrative control times, not a guarantee that every flight can immediately depart. Airlines must also restore aircraft and crew positioning and obtain departure clearances.
No. A ground stop principally prevents specified aircraft from taking off. In a nationwide order, that can mean departures at airports across the country, subject to exceptions and further direction. It does not imply that pilots already in flight suddenly lack instructions or that all aircraft must return to their origin. During this event, airborne aircraft continued to be handled by air traffic control, with diversions or arrival restrictions possible where needed.
International flights require extra care because decisions can involve aircraft departing other countries, overflight permissions, destination congestion, and the ability of U.S. controllers to receive them. The initial FAA message expressly said inbound international flights would be handled case by case, rather than promising blanket permission for every transatlantic arrival.
A ground stop holds departures within the defined scope until the FAA authorizes movement. A ground delay program instead assigns later departure slots so arrivals are metered into an airport with limited capacity. Both can lead to missed connections, but a nationwide communications-driven stop is different from a routine airport-specific slowdown caused by weather or congestion.
Airlines may report a flight as delayed, canceled or awaiting clearance while the same FAA order is in place. A carrier-specific app is therefore the best source for an individual booking; the FAA describes airspace restrictions, not whether each particular ticket will be rebooked.
Travelers departing London Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Edinburgh or other UK airports for the United States can encounter delayed departures, holding patterns, diversions or cancellations even though the incident originated in the U.S. air traffic system. European aviation authorities and carriers responded to the American restriction, and later disruption can persist when aircraft and crews are out of position. The precise effect depends on the route, carrier, airport and the FAA restrictions in force when the flight is due.
If your flight is scheduled, check the operating airline’s app or website for flight-number-specific status and any rebooking options. Review the airport’s departure information as a secondary check. If the carrier has not canceled your flight, do not assume you should stay home: follow its check-in instructions, because schedules can change again. Save notices and receipts for necessary expenses and check your airline’s policy and applicable passenger rights for your particular itinerary.
No confirmed link has been established. In January 2023, the FAA briefly halted U.S. departures after a failure of its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, which distributes critical information to pilots. The November 2026 disruption was described as affecting telecommunications between air traffic control centers. The shared feature is the unusual nationwide safety pause, not an established common technical cause.
First, the FAA must be satisfied that essential communications and coordination are reliable enough for departures to restart safely. It may then allow controlled or phased departures, depending on traffic management advisories and local conditions. Airlines must determine which aircraft and crews are available, preserve legal crew duty limits, and work through accumulated queues. Consequently, a lifted national ground stop would not necessarily mean that delays and cancellations end at once.
Travelers can follow the FAA official website, the FAA National Airspace System status service, and notices from their airline. These are the appropriate sources for any later confirmation that the restriction has been lifted. This article does not claim a verified nationwide reopening time or a final investigation finding.
A confirmed nationwide telecommunications problem affecting 22 en-route air traffic control centers prompted a precautionary stop. The underlying technical cause had not been confirmed at the time checked.
No. They may be delayed, diverted, canceled or handled individually. Check your operating airline for the status of your flight number and any rebooking instructions.
No verified systemwide restoration time was available from the sources checked for this article. An advisory review time is not proof of full operational recovery.
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