The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted departures across the United States on Friday, November 13, after air traffic communications failed. Planes already in the air could still land after the nationwide order took effect shortly before 4 p.m. Eastern time.
FlightAware counted nearly 7,000 delayed or canceled flights, Reuters reported within an hour of the agency’s notice to aircraft operators. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the outage affected all 22 regional centers that guide planes between airports.
Technicians began investigating the cause. CNN reported that early findings pointed away from a cyberattack, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.
What the FAA Ground Stop Covered
Controllers were to handle inbound international flights case by case. An FAA advisory listed 11 p.m. Eastern as the end of its initial window. Officials had yet to confirm when departures would resume.
Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports faced local ground stops before the national order. Friday marked the first nationwide halt since January 2023. A failure in the system that sends safety notices to pilots prompted that earlier pause.
Airline shares fell in after-hours trading following the FAA announcement. Barron’s reported that United Airlines lost about 2%. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines each slipped about 1%.
However, Congress approved $12.5 billion for air traffic control upgrades in 2025. On Friday, the FAA and White House asked lawmakers for another $30.1 billion.
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