The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a rare nationwide ground stop Friday evening, November 13, 2026, after a telecommunications outage hit air traffic control systems nationwide. The halt began at 3:54 PM EST and affected all 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers. More than 10,000 flights were delayed or canceled before takeoffs resumed around 8:15 PM EST. Friday’s order marked only the second coast-to-coast grounding of U.S. departures since the September 11 attacks.
The FAA said it issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centres. A subsequent notice cited a temporary telecommunications outage and inconsistent system data. SpaceX proceeded with its Starship orbital launch from Texas. Flightradar24 tracking data showed airborne traffic over the continental United States dropping sharply; by 5:55 PM EST, only around 1,000 aircraft remained aloft. Planes already taxiing for takeoff were ordered back to airport gates.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stressed that investigators found no sign of a threat or nefarious attack against the United States. White House officials confirmed that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy briefed President Donald Trump on the aviation breakdown. Once airspace reopened Friday night, Duffy blamed "old hardware" for the nationwide disruption. The breakdown happened just one day after the Transportation Secretary formally asked Congress for $30 billion to upgrade and modernize the U.S. Air Traffic Control System.
Microsoft 365 suffered a global outage the same day. Microsoft issued a public update stating it had no indication the FAA ground stop involved any Microsoft services. Airlines warned passengers that crew and aircraft displacements would cause lingering delays through Saturday. Major U.S. carriers waived change fees for Friday evening and Saturday itineraries.
