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FAA halts all US departing flights nationwide over communications outage

Officials said there was no sign of an attack as technicians investigate; FlightAware counted nearly 7,000 delayed or canceled flights.

Published Nov 13, 2026 · 23:46 UTC20 reports

The short version

  • The FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop on all departing US flights after a communication issue hit all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.[Deutsche Welle]
  • Nearly 7,000 US flights were delayed or canceled, according to FlightAware, and NAV Canada applied traffic management at four major Canadian airports.[Deutsche Welle]
  • Mullin said the outage showed no sign of an attack, but agencies are not ruling anything out while technicians investigate the cause.[CBS News · The Guardian · Deutsche Welle]
  • It is the first nationwide ground stop since a January 2023 FAA outage; the previous one followed the September 11, 2001 attacks.[Deutsche Welle]

Key facts

  • The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop on all departing US flights due to a communication issue affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.[Deutsche Welle]
  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said FAA technicians are investigating the communication issue.[Deutsche Welle]
  • Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication the outage was an attack and described it as a telecommunications outage.[CBS News · Deutsche Welle]
  • FlightAware reported that nearly 7,000 US flights were delayed or canceled due to the ground stop.[Deutsche Welle]
  • NAV Canada implemented traffic management measures at Toronto Pearson, Montreal-Trudeau, Calgary and Vancouver airports.[Deutsche Welle]
  • This is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when the FAA dealt with a system outage.[Deutsche Welle]
  • The previous nationwide ground stop before 2023 followed the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.[Deutsche Welle]

What remains uncertain

  • The root cause of the outage has not been identified, and federal agencies are not ruling anything out in the investigation.[The Guardian · Deutsche Welle]
  • Officials' description of the cause as a telecommunications outage and the no-attack assessment are preliminary, based on statements made early in the investigation.[CBS News · The Guardian · Deutsche Welle]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.