FAA orders nationwide ground stop, disrupting nearly 7,000 US flights

Key facts

• The FAA grounded all flights due to take off in the US, the third nationwide grounding of departing flights.
• Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said FAA technicians are looking into a communication issue affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
• FlightAware counted nearly 7,000 US flights delayed or canceled, according to the report.
• The FAA has more than 14,000 air traffic controllers handling more than 44,000 US takeoffs a day, per FAA data.
• The two earlier nationwide groundings were on September 11, 2001, and in January 2023 after a pilot notification system malfunction.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for all flights due to take off in the US on November 13, 2026, delaying or canceling nearly 7,000 US flights, according to aviation tracker FlightAware.

In a post on X, US transportation secretary Sean Duffy said the stoppage is due to a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, and that FAA technicians are looking into the matter.

The report said this is the third time all departing flights have been grounded in the US. The first was on September 11, 2001; the other was in January 2023, when the FAA paused all domestic departures for less than two hours after a pilot notification system malfunctioned.

The FAA has more than 14,000 air traffic controllers who handle the more than 44,000 flights that take off from airports across the US each day, according to FAA data. The report said more details would follow.