The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop on November 13, 2026, halting all U.S. flights for more than four hours due to intermittent gaps in communications and radar caused by outdated air traffic control equipment overwhelmed by new technology. More than 2,000 flights were canceled on Friday alone, and the disruption continued into November 14 with over 2,500 additional cancellations and hundreds of delays. This was the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years and the second since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Effects on Passengers and Airports
Passengers experienced widespread disruptions at major U.S. airports including Dallas Love Field, Los Angeles
International, Charlotte Douglas International, and Chicago O’Hare. Many were stranded as flights were delayed or canceled, resulting in crowded terminals and extended waits. At Dallas Love Field, Southwest Airlines gate agents handled fully booked flights, asking passengers to have boarding passes ready to expedite boarding. In Los Angeles, passengers endured long waits on planes after landing while crews awaited available gates. At London Heathrow Airport, several transatlantic flights between the UK and U.S., such as American Airlines routes to Dallas and Los Angeles and British Airways flights to New York JFK, were delayed or canceled on Saturday.
Impact on Sports Teams
Professional and collegiate
sports teams faced schedule disruptions due to the ground stop. Auburn University’s football kickoff against Mississippi State was postponed from noon ET to 4:15 p.m. ET on November 14, and the team took a bus instead of flying. Other NCAA teams, including Baylor, University of Washington, Kansas State University, University of Minnesota, and Ole Miss had to reschedule or postpone their Saturday flights. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy urged NCAA football programs to contact the FAA for prioritized flight arrangements on the weekend to minimize further disruptions.
Official Responses and Safety Assurances
FAA Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy attributed the failure to overstressed legacy air
traffic control infrastructure, stating the new AI-powered systems were not involved. He warned that similar outages could happen again without additional funding. 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.” Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin confirmed that more than 3,000 flights landed safely during the disruption with no passenger danger. Tim Johnson, consumer director at the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority, added that transatlantic flight disruptions might continue as airlines complete passenger
rebooking.
FAA Infrastructure Upgrades and Funding
The FAA is in the process of modernizing its air traffic control network by replacing thousands of old copper wires with fiber optic lines and upgrading radio systems. Congress allocated $12.5 billion for this ongoing upgrade program and the FAA, supported by the White House, is seeking an additional $30 billion to complete the overhaul. The failure on November 13 was traced to legacy equipment overwhelmed by new technology, not the FAA’s recently deployed AI systems designed to predict air traffic problems.
Speaking to the scale of the disruption, passenger Corbyn Wascher described a four-hour delay on an American
Airlines flight at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and praised the flight attendants’ efforts. He said, “The stewardesses were amazing. You could tell that they were pretty stressed out.” Meanwhile, Emily Brown, who was unable to board her delayed American Airlines flight from Dallas to Columbus, said, “She saved up her money to buy her own ticket, and she’s planned this whole weekend. Now we’re not sure when we’re gonna be able to go.”
