FAA orders nationwide ground stop following communication failure

On Friday, November 13, 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an urgent directive ordering a nationwide ground stop across all United States airports. The decision halted all departing flights due to severe technical disruptions affecting regional air traffic control communication systems. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that the outage impacted all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, which are responsible for guiding aircraft between airports. While inbound international flights are being handled on a case-by-case basis, all other departures remain grounded until further notice.

Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 reported that approximately 3,100 aircraft were in the air bound for US destinations at the time the order was issued. The disruption originated from localized issues in Chicago, including Midway International Airport, before escalating into a systemic national failure. Technicians are currently investigating the root cause, but authorities have not yet provided a timeline for the restoration of normal operations.

Nationwide ground stops are extremely rare, with this event marking the first such occurrence since the January 2023 outage of the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system. Prior to that incident, such broad measures had not been enacted since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Officials have pledged to provide immediate updates as the investigation into the critical communication failure continues.