On November 14, 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a nationwide ground stop lasting over four hours due to an equipment failure during a telecommunications network upgrade. The outage disrupted communications between air traffic controllers and aircraft, grounding thousands of flights across the United States.
L3Harris Telecom Upgrade and Router Failure
L3Harris, the contractor responsible for the FAA’s communication network, was performing routine maintenance converting outdated copper wires to fiber optic cables at a remote FAA site. A faulty or misconfigured router flooded other routers, causing communication outages at as many as 17 of the FAA’s 22 air traffic control centers.
Flight Delays and Cancellations on November 14 and 15
The ground stop led
to widespread disruption, with FlightAware reporting nearly 25,000 flight delays and over 9,000 cancellations on November 14. Disruptions continued into the following day, with more than 4,000 cancellations recorded by November 15, reflecting approximately 18% of U.S. departing flights according to Cirium data.
Travelers Face Airport Congestion and Alternatives
Major U.S. airports including Tampa International Airport in Florida and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport experienced severe congestion. Passengers faced extended delays, cancellations, and long waits to receive refunds or rebook flights, as reported by JetBlue and Southwest Airlines. Some travelers canceled trips or turned to alternative transportation, such as Amtrak trains, despite a brief Amtrak system
outage the previous night.
Official Statements and Ongoing Investigation
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the ground stop stemmed from equipment failure during the telecom network upgrade and affirmed the FAA is investigating contractor responsibility or possible faulty equipment. He noted, “When I tell you that we’re using old equipment, we’re using old equipment.” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford confirmed outages at 17 control centers and said, “If that had been a single facility, we would have just worked through it. But when we saw it go to two, three, 10, 17 facilities, that’s when we started to realize there was something much larger going on here.”
Both officials denied any cyberattack or AI-related causes.
L3Harris stated it has completed more than 70% of FAA’s copper-to-fiber optic conversions and is cooperating with the FAA investigation, saying, “L3Harris takes the nationwide ground stop and its impact on travelers, airlines and air traffic operations seriously.”
FAA Infrastructure and Modernization Context
The FAA’s communication infrastructure still contained approximately 30% copper wiring at the time, some of it obsolete. Upgrades have been ongoing for decades as part of a modernization effort supported by a $12.5 billion congressional allocation approved in July 2025. This ground stop represents only the second nationwide halt in U.S. air travel since
the attacks of September 11, 2001, after the 2023 NOTAM system outage.
Recovery and Continued Disruption
Flight operations began gradually restoring by Saturday morning, November 15, but ongoing delays and cancellations were expected to persist over the following days. FAA officials assured passengers would receive refunds or be rebooked, urging travelers to contact their airlines directly. FlightAware reported more than 5,000 cancellations and over 4,400 delays as of 1 p.m. ET on November 15.
