US aviation operations resume after nationwide ground stop
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all departing flights nationwide on Friday, November 13, 2026, due to severe communication failures across all 22 regional air traffic control centers. The ground stop was initiated at 15:36 Eastern Time and lasted for nearly five hours, resulting in massive travel disruption. According to data from FlightAware, the incident led to approximately 5,117 flight cancellations and over 9,814 delays, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The suspension was lifted at 20:15 Eastern Time after systems were restored. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin held a joint press conference at the White House to clarify that there was no evidence of a cyberattack or malicious activity, attributing the outage to technical failures within the aging infrastructure of the air traffic control system.
While aircraft already in the air remained safe and proceeded to their destinations, the incident underscored urgent needs for modernization, with officials calling for significant federal investment to upgrade the system. Although flight operations have officially restarted, authorities warn that travel will remain chaotic for some time as airlines work through the massive backlog of canceled and delayed flights.