The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded all flights nationwide on Friday, 13 November 2026. This decision, announced on Friday afternoon, was made due to communications problems at regional air traffic control centers.
The ground stop led to widespread disruption at airports across the country, with passengers experiencing cancelled travel plans. Some passengers, including Steve Honberger at New York’s John F Kennedy airport, were on planes about to depart when the shutdown was announced.
Four hours after the initial announcement, the FAA sent out an advisory lifting the ground stop. According to FlightAware, there have been 10,343 flight delays within, into, or out of the US, and 1,479 cancellations so far.
This incident marks only the third national ground stop issued in the US. Previous instances occurred on 11 September 2001, following a terrorist attack, and in January 2023, due to a communications failure.