FAA lifts nationwide ground stop after air traffic communications outage; departures resume

UPDATE (8:16 p.m. ET): Ground stop lifted

The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop at 8:16 p.m. ET Friday, after more than four hours. Its Command Center advisory, issued at 8:19 p.m. ET, said: “THE FAA COMMAND CENTER NATIONWIDE GROUND STOP HAS BEEN CANCELLED.” An FAA spokesperson confirmed the lift to The Washington Post, and the AP reported that departures are resuming.

At a White House briefing, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, “We didn’t lose all telecom, we didn’t lose all radar,” NBC News reported. Earlier Friday at the White House, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said, “There was no indication, as of yet, that this was a nefarious attack against us, it’s just a telecommunication outage, as of right now,” CNA reported.

FlightAware listed 6,234 cancellations and 9,023 delays of flights within, into or out of the United States on Friday as of 8:57 p.m. ET.

DEVELOPING · Last updated 8:58 p.m. ET, Fri., Nov. 13 · Earlier today

FAA Command Center advisory 111, issued Friday, set a “National Ground Stop” starting at 2053 UTC (3:53 p.m. ET): “ATTENTION ALL AIRCRAFT OPERATORS, BY ORDER OF THE FEDERAL AVIATION COMMAND CENTER ALL AIRPORTS ARE GROUND STOPPED. ALL DEPARTING TRAFFIC SHOULD REMAIN GROUND STOPPED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. INBOUND INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS WILL BE MANAGED ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS.” The advisory’s event window runs to 11 p.m. ET, with an effective time through 11:30 p.m. ET.

A later FAA advisory, issued at 5:46 p.m. ET, gave the reason as “COMMUNICATIONS FAILURE” and said: “THE FAA COMMAND CENTER GROUND STOP REMAINS IN EFFECT. AS ENROUTE FACILITIES RECOVER, FLIGHTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO DEPART THROUGH COORDINATION WITH THE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM COMMAND CENTER.” An FAA operations plan said traffic would be released “AS CONDITIONS ALLOW” in a tiered approach.

Before the lift, the Associated Press reported that some flights had been cleared to depart, including flights within Alaska and Hawaii and some international flights leaving U.S. airspace.

What officials have said

Duffy wrote on X at 4:16 p.m. ET: “The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”

The FAA posted at 5:02 p.m. ET: “There has been a temporary telecommunications outage - out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis.”

Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Mullin said, “There was no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack against us. It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now,” The Hill reported. Asked about a possible cyberattack, he said: “As we investigate what caused this, you always got to assume that as many cyberattacks that take place, that you make that assumption. So, but as of right now, that’s not known,” according to NBC Chicago.

“Everybody is safe. There is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they’re flying,” Mullin said in a clip posted by the White House. He also said the outage would “take some time” to resolve, adding, “The flights are accounted for, and there’s no, there should be no fear to the public at all in this,” NBC Chicago reported. Mullin said President Trump had been briefed, according to the Washington Times.

Shortly before 8 p.m. ET, Duffy’s account and the Transportation Department shared a White House post announcing that Mullin and Duffy would brief reporters on the ground stop; the briefing began at about 8:29 p.m. ET.

Travelers

FlightAware listed 5,001 cancellations and 9,814 delays of flights within, into or out of the United States on Friday as of 7:53 p.m. ET, while the stop was still in effect.

Eurocontrol said flights departing for U.S. airports from its 42 member states were suspended at the FAA’s request, and NAV Canada said it was managing traffic at Toronto Pearson, Montreal-Trudeau, Calgary and Vancouver, DW reported.

It is only the second nationwide ground stop since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; the first was in January 2023, during an FAA system outage, the BBC and DW reported.