The US Federal Aviation Administration grounded all departing flights across the United States on Friday, 13 November 2026, after a communications failure affected air traffic control centres.
The nationwide ground stop was announced at 3:54 p.m. ET (20:54 GMT / 01:54 PKT). At that time, 4,042 flights were already airborne and heading for US airports, according to Flightradar24. Those aircraft were allowed to land, but planes on the ground could not take off.
More than 1,000 flights were cancelled and nearly 10,000 delayed, according to FlightAware, with disruption spreading beyond the United States and affecting flights from Canada and Europe.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said: “There is no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us. It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now.” The Department of Homeland Security said there were no signs of a cyberattack. President Donald Trump was briefed on the situation, and Mullin added: “This isn’t another 9/11.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the communications issue affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The cause remained under investigation, with officials examining all possible causes, including a new AI-powered air traffic control system.
It was only the second nationwide shutdown of its kind since the 11 September 2001 attacks; the other, in January 2023, lasted under two hours.
The US National Weather Service also reported nationwide internet and communications issues on the same day, although there was no indication the two were connected.
Late on Friday, some flights were reported to be resuming, but airlines said it would take time for schedules to return to normal, and travellers were advised to check with their airline before travelling.
Source: Reuters
