The Daily Brief
Daily Brief Special Report: U.S. Nationwide Ground Stop for Aircraft (November 13, 2026)
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights in the U.S. at 3:54 pm ET today "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," following what officials describe as a communications outage affecting the country's air traffic control system.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights in the U.S. at 3:54 pm ET today "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," following what officials describe as a communications outage affecting the country's air traffic control system.
Updates (original coverage below):
- 9:16 pm ET | U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin held a press conference at the White House at 8:30 pm ET, in which they said:
- The nationwide ground stop was lifted at 8:15 pm ET, but many flights and airlines will continue to be affected in the coming days. Duffy suggested flight backlogs should be cleared and full operations restored before the Thanksgiving travel period.
- Mullin said there was no connection between the FAA communications outage and this week's Microsoft service outage.
- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been activated to provide emergency services to stranded passengers, such as access to critical medications, and to ensure the delivery of critical materials, such as organs for transplant.
- Duffy said the ground stop was prompted by problems in communications between regional air traffic control centers and aircraft, and that the underlying cause was data overloading communications switches and routers. He also noted the Trump administration's ongoing requests for funds to upgrade the country's air traffic control system.
- Duffy said the Trump administration will now ask Congress for $50 billion in emergency funding to build a new nationwide air traffic control system, up from an earlier request of more than $30 billion. Congress approved $12.5 billion for the system's modernization last year.
- Mullin, responding to a question, said there is no evidence at present linking the outage to a cyberattack, but that he could not rule one out as investigations continue.
- 7:40 pm ET | Airline JetBlue has cancelled all flights for tonight, except for Europe-bound departures. Reports suggest additional airlines are expected to take similar measures.
- 7:15 pm ET | BBC cites officials as saying U.S.-bound flights from Europe have been temporarily suspended. Other reports note that incoming international flights could be diverted to alternate airports due to gates being full at some airports.
Original coverage:
- U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the ground stop followed "a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers," the 22 regional centers that direct planes flying between airports, and that FAA technicians are investigating the issue.
- U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that there is "no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack," calling it a "telecommunications outage" and saying all flights are accounted for.
- Some reports cite law enforcement officials as saying early indications are that the outage was not caused by a cyberattack.
- The FAA expanded its new artificial intelligence-assisted traffic management system, known as SMART, to all 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers earlier this week. The system, being built under a 12-year, $875 million contract, uses weather, traffic, and staffing data to recommend flight reroutes to FAA staff, who decide whether to use them. Officials have not linked the system to today's outage.
- Some reports say planes already in the air are continuing to their destinations, while other reports say officials have said those planes may land. The FAA says international flights will be managed on a "case by case basis."
- Mullin says no time frame has been set for lifting the ground stop, adding that "it's going to take some time," and an FAA advisory now lists a preliminary extension of the ground stop through 11:30 pm ET.
- The flight-tracking site FlightAware says more than 7,800 flights have been delayed or cancelled.
- The FAA and the White House asked Congress today for another $30.1 billion to replace the country's aging air traffic control infrastructure, on top of the $12.5 billion lawmakers approved for the overhaul last year.
- This is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system failed, and only the second since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Live updates: