The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights across the United States for approximately four hours beginning late on November 13, 2026, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety” following telecommunications outages at regional air traffic control centers. The shutdown, the longest since the 9/11 attacks, resulted in about 10,000 cancelled flights to and from the US. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that US airspace reopened early on November 14 but warned of continuing disruptions.
Flight Cancellations and Delays at Heathrow and Gatwick
London Heathrow Airport registered 31 cancelled flights involving US routes on the morning of November 14, 2026, with approximately 20 delayed departures. Among
affected airlines, British Airways cancelled its 10:30pm departure to New York on November 13. Gatwick Airport recorded the cancellation of three flights from Orlando, Florida, scheduled to arrive at 7:30am on November 14. Virgin Atlantic also cancelled a Heathrow to New York JFK flight originally set for November 13.
Airline Responses and Travel Advice
British Airways acknowledged the disruptions were beyond their control and urged passengers to travel to the airport as planned to enable timely departures. A spokesperson said their teams were working to minimize the impact on customers during ongoing delays. Virgin Atlantic confirmed awareness of the FAA ground stop and is closely
monitoring impacts, advising customers to verify flight statuses through their website.
Regulatory Warnings and Eurocontrol Suspension
The UK Civil Aviation Authority issued warnings of “follow-on disruption” as airlines manage rebookings and service normalization. Consumer Director Tim Johnson advised travelers on UK-US flights to check for flight updates before traveling. Eurocontrol suspended all flights bound for the US departing from its 42 member states, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, and France, between 2200 UTC on November 13 and 0500 UTC on November 14, 2026, at the FAA’s request. Eurocontrol’s Network Manager Operations Centre is actively monitoring the situation.
Traveler Impact and Ongoing Uncertainty
Passengers traveling through Heathrow and Gatwick on November
14 and 15 faced cancellations, delays, and significant uncertainty. Early cancellations at Gatwick included key arrivals from Orlando, affecting connections. Travel disruptions remain as airlines continue to adjust schedules. The UK Civil Aviation Authority cautioned that residual disruption would persist as services recover.
US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin attributed the outage to an overwhelmed air traffic control system infrastructure following the introduction of new technology, ruling out cyberattacks or rogue artificial intelligence involvement. Secretary Duffy noted that while airspace operations would resume ahead of the Thanksgiving travel surge, additional disruptions could arise.
