FAA says it has lifted nationwide ground stop that snarled airports: Live updates - USA Today
The FAA has lifted a nationwide ground stop that left many thousands of travelers stranded at airports or scrambling to get home in rental cars, Amtrak trains and buses.
The agency made the announcement that the ground stop was canceled on its website around 8:30 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 13, more than four hours after the stoppage began.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters at the White House that outdated air traffic control technology was to blame for the communications outage that forced the FAA to ground flights across the country.
Duffy said the FAA started identifying instability in radar and communications systems at traffic control centers at 3:36 pm ET.
“What we have is an incredibly old air traffic control system,” Duffy said, adding that switches and routers got “overloaded” in the system’s analog technology. “They started to give us inconsistency in the data from those routers, and because of that we shut the system down.”
In announcing the ground stop earlier in the day, the agency cited extraordinary circumstances and safety concerns related to an air traffic control issue. The directive instructed all departing aircraft to remain on the ground until further notice.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters outside the White House earlier in the day that Americans did not have to fear for their safety over the outage.
“We’re wanting to assure all the American people, this isn’t a safety (threat) to the American people or another 9/11,” Mullin said. “There is no prior indication as of yet that this was nefarious attack against us."
He reiterated that at the White House press briefing after the outage was lifted, saying “the public was never at danger through this process."
He added: “All your loved ones are safe."
Airlines moved quickly to resume and reschedule thousands of grounded flights across the country.
American Airlines said in a news release that the company is focused on “operating as many remaining flights as possible this evening while positioning the airline for the strongest possible recovery tomorrow and in the days ahead.”
The company said it would prioritize flights to non-hub cities and international flights. “We expect news residual delays and cancellations tonight and into tomorrow following the FAA’s nationwide ground stop,” the company said.
United Airlines also said it was working to get passengers back in the air.
“While a significant number of Friday evening flights were canceled, others are still expected to operate,” the company said in a news release.
Delta Airlines said in a news release that the company is allowing customers to change flights at no extra cost.
“Thank you for your understanding as we work as quickly as possible to fully restore normal operations,” Delta said on social media.
The massive disruption to airline traffic that extended across the nation began after the FAA started experiencing “instability for our radar and our communications" at 3:36 p.m. ET, Duffy said.
The agency soon issued a ground stop, halting flights around the country. It was lifted at 8:15 p.m.. More than 3,500 airplanes were flying when the ground stop was issued. By 8 p.m., fewer than 400 airplanes were in the sky.
“The FAA confirms they did not lose all radar or telecom, and exceptions were made to allow critical medevac, life-saving cargo, and law enforcement flights to continue operating,” Duffy said in a post on X.
Duffy said air traffic control’s aging analog system is the source of the problems, explaining that it got “overloaded with data” and started to experience the issues.
In contrast, he said the fewer number of air traffic control centers with digital IP systems did not break down.
“Those did not experience these issues,” he said. “Which underscores the point, it’s important that we’re able to finish this work with additional resources.”
The massive disruption caused by the nationwide ground stop could be a taste of what’s to come if the FAA system isn’t upgraded, Duffy said.
Duffy pointed to isolated breakdowns that occurred in New York and Newark in recent years ahead of the larger outage that prompted the nationwide ground stop.
“You will have more of these. You will have more of them, unless the American people and in Congress tell us to build,” Duffy said. “I can’t wait for that.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it will take “some time" to get flights back to capacity, but he did not have a timeframe for when flight schedules will return to normal.
“We’re going to have some make-up to do,” Duffy said.
The days leading up to Thanksgiving, which is set for Nov. 26, are typically some of the busiest travel days of the year.
“I think we’re going to be back up and operational as we come into the heat of travel during Thanksgiving,” he said.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sought to reassure Americans that the ground stop was out of an abundance of caution.
“The public was never at danger through this process. There (were) never any lives at risk. There was no flights at risk,” Mullin said. “All your loved ones are safe. We are working to resolve the issue, and we hope to have operations up and going normal at some point.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy renewed President Donald Trump’s request for Congress to approve $30 billion to upgrade the nation’s air traffic control system – and increased the ask by $20 billion.
“The president’s asked for $30 billion,” Duffy said. “I want $50 billion.”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reiterated that the outage never posed a threat to the safety of the United States.
“Right now things are working, as we can see, in the right direction,” Mullin said. “I just want to reiterate this: The public was never in dangerous through this process.”
Trump has declared the air traffic control failures “a national emergency,” Mullin said, adding that there’s “no evidence” that a cyberattack to go take the system down.
“This is what happens when Congress kicks the can down the road,” he said.
The FAA has lifted a nationwide ground stop that has left many thousands of travelers stranded at airports or scrambling to get home in rental cars, Amtrak trains and buses.
The agency made the announcement that the ground stop was over on its website, more than four hours after the ground stop began.
"The FAA Command Center nationwide ground stop has been canceled," the website said around 8:30 p.m. ET.
As Democrats prepared to close out “What’s Next,” a post-election gathering in Denver, the FAA ground stop roiled some of their plans to return home.
“I’ve had constituents text me, I’ve had family members text me, saying ‘What’s going on? When are we going to be able to fly?’” Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who appeared on a panel Nov. 13 before getting stuck in Denver, told CNN. “We were told 10 p.m., then we were told our flights were canceled.”
One of the event’s closing speakers was former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The potential 2028 presidential contender briefly acknowledged the ground stop in his remarks.
“I’ll begin with a public service announcement: I will be available in the hotel bar following the concert for anybody that needs to rebook their flights or get a refund per your rights,” he told the audience.
It will take a while for flights to get back on track after the FAA’s ground stop lifts.
“The longer the ground stop, the longer the recovery time,” Robert W. Mann Jr., a former airline executive and current president of independent airline consultancy R.W. Mann and Co., told USA TODAY by email.
He noted equipment and crews out of position and some crew have timed out.
“At this point, the day is effectively done,” he said. “Airlines should be focusing on resetting their resources and systems for the weekend.”
For travelers rebooking flights, Derek Cann, a flight expert at Going advised, “The earliest flight of the day and nonstops are your best bets for avoiding knock-on delays.”
Travelers at Philadelphia International Airport were all business Friday night during a nationwide ground stoppage.
Many people outside of baggage claims and ticketing booths were arranging rides and rebooking flights, and the vibes were mostly mellow.
One traveler emerged from her flight from Aruba saying the only bumpy part of the flight was the turbulence. Another, Mills Chapman, of Philadelphia, said he didn't want to miss his 6:30 p.m. flight to Seattle if and when the ground stop is lifted.
"I decided it was much wiser to come to the airport," he said while crouched outside of a virtually non-existent TSA security line.
He said this ground stoppage has helped his perspective on traveling and safety, saying it "could be worse."
A nationwide grounding of flights threw a wrench into travel plans for Michigan flyers from Detroit to Flint to Grand Rapids who were forced to stay on the ground Friday evening inside numerous airports.
Some passengers on delayed flights said on Nov. 13 they were tired, annoyed and skeptical of the reason given for the stopped flights. The Federal Aviation Administration blamed the grounding on a communications network issue.
Mousavi Akter, 33, of Ann Arbor, was pushing a cart full of bags after arriving at the airport for a four-week vacation with her family to Istanbul that's been a year in the making. Their 8 p.m. flight had been delayed by at least two hours.
"We have little kids," said Akter, a research scientist and mother of an 8-year-old and a 3-year-old. "It's going to be past their bedtime. It's difficult for us."
Cliff Cowling moved his trip up by two days so that he could spend more time with his dying brother in his native New Zealand. But after he drove three hours to the airport with his wife, Monica, and their 10-year-old daughter, the family learned there was no way to depart for their destination until Sunday.
Instead of boarding the first leg of their trip to Auckland, the Cowlings will spend Friday night going home to Coldwater, Michigan.
“We extended (the trip) because he’s forgetting things, and so we tried to get the quality time with him,” Monica Cowling said.
The couple met a dozen years ago while Monica was navigating the loss of her own brother, she explained. After he died, she used Grand Theft Auto to stay in touch with her other brother, a military member stationed overseas. One day, a stranger with an intriguing accent joined their heist group. That was Cliff.
They’ll be back in Indianapolis on Sunday, trying once more to get across the world.
President Donald Trump is getting constant updates on the nationwide ground stop, according to a White House official.
Trump has not publicly weighed in on the FAA’s directive since it was announced at about 4 p.m. ET.
Scores of passengers at Boston Logan International Airport were attempting to rebook or cancel flights due to the nationwide stoppage. Flights to major cities have been delayed hour-by-hour at Logan with no end in sight.
Irem Collins was over the Atlantic Ocean returning stateside from Istanbul when she learned all flights were grounded. After spending several days visiting her family, Collins will now have an impromptu overnight stay in Boston before returning home to her husband in Florida.
Hundreds of people waited ahead of Collins in a line to change their bookings with JetBlue.
“I don't like lines. I don't like waiting in a queue,” she said. “But it's just (that) everybody's in the same boat.”
Among the air travelers affected by the nationwide FAA ground stop are collegiate and professional sports teams. For the former, travel is a particular concern with Saturday football games looming.
Texas and Tennessee football were among the programs grounded ahead of games against LSU and Texas A&M, respectively, while Alabama is now busing to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt.
See the full list of impacted games.
Fans from across Michigan and the nation were expected to flock to Munich, Germany to watch the Detroit Lions play the New England Patriots on Nov. 15 but travelers who didn't make flights before the grounding were confused and frustrated.
Randall Woodard, 49, was at Detroit Metro Airport on Nov. 13 trying to catch his flight to Munich, around 5:45 p.m. — about two hours after the FAA’s announcement that flights were grounded.
“I wouldn’t miss this trip for the world,” said Woodard, who’s turning 50 on gameday, Nov. 15.
Woodard said he was hoping his airline, Turkish Airlines, wasn’t affected, but he said he’ll see for sure when he gets to the front of the long, snaking line at the bag check.
Microsoft posted on X that the company had "no indication that the FAA’s nationwide ground stop is related to any Microsoft services."
A worldwide Microsoft outage stabilized Friday after more than 24 hours, during which thousands of users couldn't access their emails, apps and other services.
Shortly before 6 p.m., Boston’s Logan Airport's official X account confirmed that the “FAA is permitting some transatlantic flights to depart Boston Logan."
"Passengers are encouraged to check directly with their airline for the latest flight information and updates," the airport said.
FlightRadar24 shows planes headed to Paris, Frankfurt and Rome have all departed the Massachusetts airport this evening.
Logan Airport is keeping passengers and others up to date on their X account.
As of 6:40 pm ET, there were over 10,000 flights delayed and over 3,000 cancelled across the country, according to data from FlightAware. For reference, there were 1,000 cancellations on Thursday, and about 100 on Wednesday and Tuesday each.
The destination airports most impacted by the cancellations are: Chicago O'Hare (173 flights), LaGuardia (143), Dallas-Fort Worth (132), John F Kennedy (113), and Boston Logan (104).
Amtrak is experiencing higher-than-normal call volumes as travelers deal with disruptions to air travel following the FAA's nationwide ground stop.
In a post on X, Amtrak apologized for error messages on its website and mobile app, as well as difficulties reaching customer service representatives.
As of 7:30 p.m. ET, travelers were still reporting difficulty reaching Amtrak's website.
“We're sorry to hear you are having issues accessing our website. Due to the current situation, we are experiencing higher-than-normal volumes of traffic over our phones and web services. We suggest trying again after a few minutes," Amtrak wrote in a post on X.
The rail service attributed the issues to increased call volumes related to ongoing airline disruptions and advised customers to try again later.
U.S.-bound departures from 42 countries − including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain − have been suspended at the FAA's request because of technical issues, according to an advisory posted by Eurocontrol, the European air traffic management organization.
The suspension covers flights departing between 5 p.m. Friday and midnight Eastern time.
Eurocontrol's Network Manager Operations Centre in Brussels said it was closely monitoring the situation and would provide updates. The notice addresses departures bound for U.S. airports; it does not instruct flights already airborne to turn back or divert.
Aviation security consultant Jeffrey Price was on a plane from Washington DC’s Dulles airport to his home in Denver when he started to see the news about planes being grounded nationwide.
“This is almost without precedent, except 9-11, which was obviously security and then the failure we had in 2023, which was about a 12-hour outage,” Price said. “So this is the third time in aviation history we've had to bring everybody down and park them.”
Price said it’s clear from the information currently available that one of the several communication systems at the FAA failed. Why that happened, he doesn’t know, he said.
“At this point everything's on the table,” said Price, who runs Leading Edge Strategies. “It could be cyber-attack related, it could be an IT system outage, it could be failures or redundancies in the systems and not wanting to use primary systems when the backups are not working.”
Despite the unanswered questions and the frantic messages he’s getting from colleagues, Price, who is a commercially rated pilot himself, said he wasn’t worried when he saw the news about a ground stop while he was in the air.
“I know the redundancies in the system that are available and I know that there's backups and that there are flight rules even if aircraft lose all communications, there are still rules in place to maintain the safety of the system,” Price said “So I actually wasn't too concerned.”
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, led by Texas Republican Ted Cruz, said in a statement that the ground stoppage underscored an urgent need to update the nation's air traffic control systems.
"The incident highlights the need to prioritize modernizing (Air Route Traffic Control Centers) over other projects," the committee posted online. "No new ARTCC has been built since LBJ was in office."
Senate Democrats are calling for an investigation into what caused the FAA ground stop.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, said she'd be "demanding answers from the FAA."
"The safety of our skies is built on redundancies," she wrote on social media. "Whatever led to the nationwide ground stop will warrant a thorough and complete investigation."
Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate's main committee overseeing transportation, said in a statement that her team was in contact with the FAA and reviewing the situation. She, too, said her panel would be looking into the issues surrounding the incident.
"Technology issues related to how planes communicate through primary frequencies, backup frequencies, and other issues will be something the Commerce Committee will be reviewing," she said.
At Palm Springs International Airport in Southern California, Bob Myers was about three minutes away from boarding his flight to Portland, Oregon, when he learned he wouldn’t be taking off anytime soon.
Instead, Myers rented a car for what he expected to be a 20-hour drive home. “I have no idea when this is going to be resolved,” he said.
Paul Tompkins, who had traveled from Vancouver, British Columbia, to watch the Women’s Tennis Association Finals in Indian Wells, was already dealing with a four-hour flight delay that would have caused him to miss his connection in San Francisco. He was trying to book his flight when the FAA issued the ground stop.
“So we know that we weren’t going to get home tonight,” Tompkins said.
Instead, he planned to take an Uber to Los Angeles, stay with relatives and catch a direct flight to Vancouver on Saturday morning. Tompkins said the delays capped off a trip that began with a missed connection in San Francisco on Monday. He lamented missing out on another day of tennis in the desert.
“If we knew we were going to be here again, we would have booked ourselves another day at the stadium,” he said.
Air Space Intelligence, the company behind the FAA's SMART airspace planning system, said that its technology did not cause Friday’s nationwide ground stop.
"The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC," the company said in a statement on X.
The denial follows speculation about SMART, whose nationwide expansion the FAA announced three days earlier.
Travelers whose flights are canceled for any reason are entitled to a refund if they choose to no longer fly.
If they choose to continue with their travels, airlines are obligated to rebook them at no cost.
No other compensation is required for cancellations due to ground stops because they’re not within the airline’s control.
Similarly, travelers whose flights are delayed by the ground stop aren’t entitled to any compensation because it’s outside carrier control.
Travelers across the country were left stressed and wondering what to do amid the stoppage.
At Nashville International Airport, Alex Babak said he was considering other options to get home to Seattle, like renting a car.
“I got five kids and a wife waiting for me at home," Babak said. "When you talk about emotions and feelings, they ain’t good right now. But I’m a very big optimist, and I believe our security system and all of our technology here in America is going to do the job. We’re going to make it home safe.”
Elizabeth Johnson was headed to Detroit via Denver for her sister’s bridal shower when her flight was delayed.
“I’m going to miss it unfortunately,” Johnson said. “It’s Friday the 13th, so I wasn’t meant to fly, I guess. It’s very sad, but I’d rather be safe.”
Colin P. Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group, a global intelligence consultancy, said he’s been fielding worried calls and text messages from colleagues asking whether the nationwide FAA ground stop is attributable to a cyber attack from a foreign country hostile to the United States.
As of Friday afternoon, Clarke said he has seen no evidence to suggest that cyber terrorism is behind the ground stop. But while the U.S. is at war with a country like Iran, which has a growing reputation for effective cyber attacks, it puts the nation on high alert, he said.
“That's part of the psychological impact. I've had four or five people text me, ‘This is the Iranians, right?’” Clarke said. “So it makes it feel ubiquitous and it makes people concerned and it puts people on edge.”
Just three days before Friday's nationwide ground stop, the FAA announced the national expansion of SMART, a new airspace planning system. Officials have not identified any connection between SMART and the ground stop.
Initially launched in the Washington, DC area on Sept. 21, the platform combines 200 data streams, including weather, flight paths and controller staffing, to help anticipate congestion and recommend scheduling changes.
The FAA said its expansion would cover airspace managed by all 22 regional air traffic control centers. SMART supports planning alongside existing systems; it does not replace controllers or control aircraft.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the U.S. has no reason to believe the telecommunications outage is a “threat to the United States,” adding that the flights were grounded “out of an abundance of caution.”
Still, Mullin did not rule out the possibility the outage could be the result of a cyber attack or artificial intelligence intrusion.
“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” he said when asked about those possibilities. “We’re not ruling anything out at this point.”
Mullin pointed to the large-scale nationwide ground stoppage following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“Of course, through DHS, we’re getting a ton of calls saying, ‘Is this a terrorist attack? Is this a terrorist attack?’” Mullin said. “Everybody’s safe. There is no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they’re flying.”
Mullin said the top priority is to restore communications and get back to normal operations.
“But we’re going to continue to work to find out what the root of the cause is,” he said.
He downplayed any connection between the FAA telecommunication outage and the recent nationwide issues with Microsoft Outlook.
“I don’t see any reason to connect those two at all,” Mullin said. “Those are separate issues.”
Just after 5 p.m. ET, the FAA posted on X that all flights had been halted out of an abundance of caution amid a temporary telecommunications outage.
“Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis,” the FAA added.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that a “telecommunication outage throughout FAA” prompted the nationwide ground stoppage.
Mullin, speaking outside the White House, said all flights are accounted for, and there will be a “priority list” to account for planes as they start coming into airports.
“There is no prior indication as of yet that this was nefarious attack against us,” he said. “It’s just a telecommunication outage as of right now.”
A ground stop is a traffic management initiative (TMI) issued by the FAA that requires all aircraft meeting specific criteria to remain on the ground, taking precedence over other TMIs. For travelers whose flights fit that criteria, this means departures are paused until the ground stop is lifted, even if scheduled during that time.
According to the FAA, criteria could be airport specific, airspace specific or equipment specific.
The FAA will issue ground stops when air traffic control cannot safely accommodate aircraft in a particular airspace or airport, such as severe weather, security threats, or airport capacity restraints like equipment outages.
They’re typically in reaction to an event and come with little warning following the consideration of other, less restrictive TMIs.
Following the January 2023 nationwide ground stop, lawmakers pressed the FAA about preventing another outage. Then-acting administrator Billy Nolen explained that contractors accidentally deleted a file, and the error spread to the backup database through synchronization, disabling both systems.
The FAA subsequently introduced a one-hour delay between database updates to prevent a repeat. Nolen also outlined modernization plans, including retiring an older NOTAM interface by 2025, and a broader safety review.
"We built a brand-new NOTAM service from the ground up in record time," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said on Sept. 29, 2025. “It is resilient, user-friendly, and scalable, and will significantly improve airspace safety and efficiency."
Nolen emphasized in 2023 that aviation remained safe but acknowledged improvements were needed, declining to guarantee that the system distributing critical safety notices would never experience another technical problem.
At Newark Liberty International Airport, no airport-wide announcement had yet been made over the loudspeaker, almost an hour after the ground stop was first announced.
"A passenger just told me it was a nationwide ground stop, and I was like, 'What?'" one airport employee said to a fellow airport worker as they walked through the airport.
Passengers gathered around gates, huddled together to figure out what to do about their checked luggage, with many on the phone trying to make plans. One flight, Flight 124 with service to Athens, Greece, however, made an announcement at 4:53 p.m. ET that all groups were able to board, though it's unclear whether that flight is able to take off.
No. On Jan. 11, 2023, the FAA halted departures nationwide after its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system failed.
The system provides flight crews with essential safety information, including runway closures and other hazards. The FAA’s preliminary review found that contractors accidentally deleted files while trying to synchronize the primary database with a backup.
The agency paused departures while technicians restored service and verified the system was working properly. The ground stop lasted nearly two hours, but flight disruptions continued throughout the day. The FAA said investigators found no evidence of a cyberattack or other malicious intent.
Mike Christensen, public information officer with the Hollywood Burbank Airport, said in a phone interview that the airport received notice of the nationwide ground stop just before 1 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13.
Christensen said he knows little else about the order, aside from that "it's due to some kind of equipment outage."
For now, Christensen said, the airport is advising passengers to connect with their airlines.
“Right now, there's going to be delays, but then even this afternoon ... things can get backed up. So basically, we're just advising passengers to connect with their airlines in the interim, just to see if they can get updates about when their flight potentially, hopefully, will take off,” he said.
Nearly 7,000 flights across the United States have been delayed or canceled because of the nationwide ground stop, according to Reuters.
The figure includes both delayed and canceled flights, as airlines adjust schedules in response to the FAA's directive. The disruption has affected air travel nationwide, though a breakdown of cancellations versus delays was not immediately available.
The FAA has not released a separate count of how many flights or passengers have been affected by the ground stop.
The FAA advisory lists an effective period beginning at 3:54 p.m. ET on Nov. 13 and extending to 11:30 p.m. ET.
However, the directive instructs departing aircraft to remain grounded until further notice. The listed expiration time does not guarantee that flights will resume by then.
The FAA has not provided an estimate for when normal flight operations will return.
A ground stop is an FAA directive that temporarily prevents affected aircraft from departing their airports. It does not necessarily mean all flights have been canceled.
The disruption could lead to delays, missed connections and schedule changes as airlines adjust their operations.
Passengers scheduled to fly Friday should check their airline's website or mobile app for the latest updates before heading to the airport. Travelers should also monitor notifications from their airlines for changes to departure times or cancellations.
The FAA advisory does not specify how many flights or passengers could be affected by the nationwide ground stop.
Airports are warning passengers to prepare for delays as the FAA's nationwide ground stop disrupts flight operations.
Mike Christensen, public information officer with Hollywood Burbank Airport, told The Desert Sun that the airport received notice of the ground stop shortly before 1 p.m. local time Friday, Nov. 13.
Christensen said the airport had limited information about the order but understood it was related to an equipment outage.
"Right now, there's going to be delays, but then even this afternoon ... things can get backed up," Christensen told The Desert Sun.
The airport is advising passengers to contact their airlines for updates about potential departure times and other changes to their travel plans.
Los Angeles International Airport is also affected by the nationwide ground stop, with all departures halted as of about 1:45 p.m. Pacific time Friday, a spokesperson confirmed to the USA TODAY Network.
Reporter Anthony Thompson can be reached at ajthompson@usatodayco.com or on X @athompsonUSAT
