The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented a nationwide ground stop across the United States on November 13, 2026, starting at 3:36 p.m. Eastern Time. The stoppage lasted over four hours and was lifted around 8:20 p.m. ET, marking the second national ground stop since September 11, 2001.
During the ground stop on November 13, more than 9,159 flights were canceled and 7,190 delayed, according to flight tracking data. Approximately 3,500 flights were airborne when the ground stop was issued, and all safely landed during the disruption. The following day, November 14, saw over 5,000 cancellations and around 5,300 delays as
airlines worked to manage the backlog.
Major Airports and Control Centers Affected
The suspension impacted 22 regional air traffic control centers responsible for managing high-altitude flights. Airports with significant delays and cancellations included New York’s JFK, Newark, LaGuardia, Chicago O’Hare, and Midway, as well as Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Washington Dulles International, and San Francisco. Overseas flights departing from coastal U.S. airports continued during the ground stop, as they were not controlled by the affected regional centers.
Technical Cause of the Ground Stop
The FAA traced the cause to equipment failures during a telecommunications upgrade at a remote FAA facility. An L3Harris contractor was replacing copper wires with fiber
optics and switched a Cisco 600 series router, dated between 2001 and 2006, which subsequently flooded other routers and overloaded the communication system. This instability led to intermittent loss of radar data and interruptions across multiple centers, prompting the FAA to pause all departures.
FAA and Government Response
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency expects flight operations to return to normal by Sunday night, November 15. Bedford stated, “I do think the worst is behind us,” emphasizing the safety of all airborne flights. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the outage to aging infrastructure and legacy technology, noting, “What we have is an incredibly
old air traffic control system.” He thanked airline and FAA personnel for their efforts during the disruption and confirmed there is no evidence of a cyberattack or AI involvement.
Airline Recovery Efforts and Funding Requests
Delta, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines each issued flexible rebooking policies to help affected customers. Delta warned of ongoing delays as crews and aircraft are repositioned. American Airlines confirmed actions to resume normal schedules but warned cancellations and delays would continue into the weekend. Southwest introduced waivers allowing passengers to cancel or change bookings without penalties.
The FAA has requested up to $50 billion from Congress to modernize its outdated air
traffic control systems, increasing from an initial $30 billion request after the incident. Transportation Secretary Duffy called for prompt congressional approval, stating, “Congress, let’s make this system more safe.” Prior allocations of $12.5 billion had only partially addressed modernization needs, with $1 billion spent so far. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Subcommittee on Aviation leaders, Rep. Rick Larsen and Rep. Andre Carson, plan congressional briefings on this funding demand and the incident’s causes.
The FAA continues its investigation to determine if human error or faulty equipment installation by the L3Harris contractor was responsible. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin
affirmed there was no indication of cyberattack involvement. Airlines and regulatory authorities expect flight cancellations and delays to persist as the system recovers throughout the weekend.
The November 13 ground stop disrupted approximately 12,000 scheduled flights, including around 3,000 private flights, significantly impacting travel across the U.S. and Canada. Passengers faced delays mainly at major hubs, with recovery efforts underway but full normalization not expected until Sunday night.
