The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop on November 13, 2026, affecting all airports in the United States. The rare ground stop lasted more than four hours and caused significant disruption to air travel coast to coast. FlightAware reported a total of 12,506 flight cancellations between November 13 and the morning of November 14, alongside widespread delays.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the incident to outdated aviation technology becoming overloaded. He described the event as an emergency and urged Congress to allocate $50 billion for a comprehensive modernization of critical flight systems. Duffy warned that without substantial
investment, incidents like the November 13 ground stop could reoccur.
Travelers faced delays and cancellations continuing into November 14 as airlines rescheduled operations and repositioned crew and aircraft. On the morning of November 14 alone, FlightAware tracked 3,374 cancellations and 1,008 delays nationwide. Duffy said operations were slowly returning to normal, with planes pushing back and taking off, but cautioned that full recovery would take time.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated there was no evidence the disruption was caused by a cyberattack, though investigations were ongoing. Mullin reassured the public that officials continue to examine the situation.
At a press briefing, Duffy emphasized the United States maintains the safest airspace worldwide despite the outage. He thanked air traffic controllers, pilots, and flight crews for their professionalism during the incident. “Operations are slowly returning to normal on Saturday with planes pushing back, taxiing and taking off,” Duffy said. He added, “Our top priority right now is making sure travelers get home safely to their families as quickly as possible.”
Following the lifting of the ground stop late on November 13, United Airlines announced it was resuming operations, including some planned Friday night flights.
