The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday, 13 November 2026, at 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time, restoring departures after a communications failure disrupted air traffic control centres across the United States earlier in the day.
The ground stop, which lasted about five hours, was ordered following instability in radar and communications systems beginning around 3:36 p.m. ET. Most U.S. flights were grounded nationwide from 3:54 p.m., marking one of the longest ground stops since the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to Reuters.
The disruption caused over 6,600 flights to be cancelled and 8,600 delayed on Friday alone, with around 1,500 more cancellations already scheduled for Sunday, per data from FlightRadar24 cited by Reuters. Airlines started gradually restoring operations in the evening, but delays and cancellations continued to affect schedules into the weekend.
FAA and government officials attributed the outage to an overload of older air traffic control system components triggered by newly added technology. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the issue as a “legacy system problem,” noting, “It’s going to be slow” to recover fully.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed there was “zero evidence that this was a cyber attack or (AI) attack,” aiming to quell speculation about the nature of the failure.
The FAA issued a public statement explaining the ground stop was necessary due to a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centres nationally. This unprecedented step was taken to ensure safety as controllers dealt with intermittent radar and communications gaps.
For South African and international travellers, the disruption in the U.S. airspace is significant. It may cause ripple effects on international flight itineraries and airline scheduling, highlighting the global connectivity of air travel networks.
The FAA and airline operators continue to monitor the situation closely with recovery expected to be gradual over the coming days. Further updates will clarify the full extent of impact and any lasting changes to scheduling.