US Federal Aviation Administration ground stop causes widespread flight cancellations

The US Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for approximately four hours on Friday, November 14, 2026, causing widespread flight cancellations and delays. The disruption occurred as the United States prepares for the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel season. This incident represents the third FAA-issued nationwide stop in the 21st century, following previous disruptions in January 2023 and September 2001.

Technical equipment failures

The ground stop was caused by technical failures in aging air traffic control communications equipment. The outage occurred during routine maintenance performed by the contractor L3Harris. The maintenance work involved switching telecommunications lines from legacy copper wire to fiber optic cable. At the time of the disruption, L3Harris had completed over 70% of the planned airspace communications conversion from copper wires to fiber optic systems.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that the outage was a legacy system problem involving old copper lines and routers that became overloaded. The ground stop was lifted at approximately 8:15 pm Eastern Time on Friday, November 14, 2026. This event was the second-longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years, surpassed only by the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Flight disruption and impact

The disruption caused significant delays and cancellations for both domestic and international flights. On Friday, Cirium reported that 8,200 flights were canceled, representing over 31% of scheduled flights. Other reports provided varying figures for Friday cancellations, including 6,000 and 8,000. Saturday also saw significant cancellations, with estimates ranging from 2,500 to 4,000 flights depending on the source.

The disruption was not linked to a Microsoft service outage that occurred earlier in the week. US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there is no evidence of a cyberattack or AI-related cause. The FAA and the Trump administration also stated there was no evidence of a cyberattack or AI-related cause.

Recovery and future funding

Airlines were expected to achieve full schedule integrity by the close of business on Sunday, November 16, 2026. Bryan Bedford, the Head of the FAA, said the worst of the disruption is likely over and full schedule integrity is expected by Sunday.

The incident comes as the administration seeks additional funding for infrastructure. While Congress approved $12.5 billion last year for modernization, the administration has sought more. Secretary Duffy has formally requested $30.1 billion from Congress, though other reports indicate requests for $30 billion or $50 billion for emergency funding.

Glossary

• Eastern Time — Eastern Time is a time zone. It is represented as GMT plus 10:30 in the context of Australian time zones.
• Congress — Congress is a body that approves funding. It has approved $12.5 billion for modernization.
• Federal Aviation Administration — The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a major airworthiness regulatory authority. It is one of several organizations responsible for airworthiness regulation.
• ground stop — A ground stop is an action issued by the FAA. It can be issued as a ground delay due to various causes.
• air traffic control — Air traffic control involves managing aircraft, sometimes utilizing a remote digital tower. This can include a system of cameras streaming video to controllers in a data centre.