Developing story. This post will be updated as the FAA releases more information.
The FAA halted departing flights across the United States on Friday afternoon, Nov. 13. The agency cited “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety.”
An air traffic control advisory posted around 3:54 p.m. Eastern said all departing traffic “should remain ground stopped until further notice.” Inbound international flights are being handled “case by case,” according to the advisory. Aircraft already in the air are reportedly continuing to their destinations. The advisory did not give an explanation.
What’s behind it? The FAA hasn’t said. Unconfirmed reports point to a communications problem. A Washington Examiner reporter posted notices describing “widespread frequency outages.” An earlier notice reportedly referred to a “rolling frequency outage in multiple centers.” Crew messages compiled by flight-tracking accounts described radio issues, including a Delta flight out of Boston. The same reporting cited an unnamed FAA source calling the situation “absolutely unheard of.” We have not independently verified these accounts.
The disruption appears to have started earlier in the afternoon. Around 3:10 p.m., an FAA advisory halted flights headed to Chicago O’Hare, citing an equipment outage and communications issues. Midway got a similar stop minutes later. The national order followed about 40 minutes after that.
What it means for travelers: The order covers departures. It does not mean every flight is canceled. Axios reported that the FAA hadn’t immediately responded to a request for comment. No delay or cancellation totals have been released, and the FAA hasn’t said when the stop will end. One tracker listed the advisory window as running until 11 p.m. Eastern, but the advisory itself says “until further notice.”
How a ground stop works
A ground stop is an air traffic management tool that keeps aircraft meeting certain criteria on the runway or at the gate. It usually applies to departures headed to a particular airport or region, and the trigger can be an airport, a piece of equipment or a stretch of airspace. It typically does not affect flights that are already in the air. Controllers use ground stops for weather, equipment outages and security concerns. Even a short one can cascade: planes and crews end up out of position, and delays and cancellations spill into later flights.
Has the FAA ordered a nationwide ground stop before?
Local and regional ground stops happen often. Nationwide ones are rare. Only September 11, 2001 was clearly bigger than today’s order, and the January 2023 outage is the closest match. Both are below.
September 11, 2001. The closest comparison for scale is the day of the terror attacks, when the FAA halted flights across the entire country as a precaution. Aircraft already in the air were returned to their origin airports or diverted, including to Canada under Operation Yellow Ribbon. U.S. departures resumed on Sept. 13.
January 11, 2023. The FAA ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures at 7:30 a.m. Eastern after its Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system, which alerts pilots to hazards, went down. Departures began resuming about an hour later. More than 10,000 flights were delayed, and by 11 a.m. FlightAware counted more than 1,000 cancellations. The FAA later said a contractor unintentionally deleted files while correcting a mismatch between a live database and its backup. It found no evidence of a cyberattack. Observers described it as the first nationwide ground stop since 9/11. President Biden ordered an investigation, and the FAA adopted new maintenance procedures for the system.
Other notable stops. On July 19, 2024, Delta, American and United each issued their own ground stops during the global CrowdStrike software outage. Those were airline-level decisions, not an FAA order. On Jan. 10, 2022, the FAA halted flights on the West Coast and in Hawaii without giving a public reason. On Feb. 4, 2023, it stopped departures at three Carolinas airports because of the suspected Chinese balloon.
How this ground stop compares
Like the 2023 outage, this stop came suddenly, and early reports point to a technical or communications problem. Two things set it apart. The FAA cited “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety” rather than naming a failed system, and the advisory said the stop would last “until further notice.” The 2023 stop lasted roughly 90 minutes. We don’t yet know how long this one will run, or whether the cause will turn out to be equipment, software or something else.
If you’re flying today, check the FAA’s National Airspace System Status page for airport restrictions. Then check your airline’s app for your specific flight. Planning holiday travel? See how driving compares with flying for Thanksgiving.
We’ll update this story when the FAA confirms a cause or lifts the order.