On November 14, 2026, London Heathrow and Gatwick airports experienced widespread flight cancellations caused by a four-hour nationwide ground stop issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which affected approximately 10,000 flights across the United States.
Flight Disruptions at Heathrow and Gatwick
Heathrow Airport reported 31 cancelled flights to and from the US and about 20 delayed departures as of 9:45 AM local time on November 14. Gatwick Airport cancelled three flights scheduled to arrive from Orlando, Florida, at 7:30 AM on the same day, directly impacting inbound US-bound services.
Cause and Scale of the FAA Ground Stop
The FAA implemented the ground stop starting around 2200 UTC on November 13 due to
communications issues at regional US air traffic control centers. This suspension lasted roughly four hours until 0500 UTC on November 14. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated the airspace reopened after 1:30 AM GMT but warned that travel disruptions could continue for several days. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin attributed the outage to new technology overwhelming an older air traffic system. He confirmed that a cyber attack or rogue AI were ruled out as causes. This ground stop marked the longest US air traffic shutdown since the 9/11 attacks.
Airline and Authority Responses
British Airways advised customers to travel to the airport as scheduled
despite delays and cancellations, emphasizing that the situation was “entirely outside of our control.” A spokesperson said their teams were striving to reduce disruption. Virgin Atlantic cancelled its November 13 Heathrow to New York JFK flight and encouraged passengers to check updated flight statuses. The UK Civil Aviation Authority’s Consumer Director Tim Johnson warned of “follow-on disruption” as airlines rebook affected passengers and restore normal operations.
Regulatory Actions and Passenger Advice
Eurocontrol, representing 42 member states including the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Israel, and Morocco, suspended all US-bound flights between 2200 UTC November 13 and 0500 UTC November 14 at the FAA’s request. Johnson urged
travelers between the UK and US to verify flight details before departing for airports. British Airways advised passengers to arrive at airports at the planned times to enable quick departures once the ground stop lifted.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, “We didn’t think we would have this kind of outage. We did. We were able to review what went wrong, and then reboot the system and go. But, you will have more of these.” Homeland Security Secretary Mullin stated, “It doesn’t appear that a cyber attack or rogue artificial intelligence played a role in the incident.”
