A nationwide Federal Aviation Administration ground stop caused by a communication issue has disrupted college football travel, leaving the No. 2 Utah and No. 23 Arizona teams facing uncertain schedules for their Saturday matchups. The FAA halted all flights on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, due to extraordinary circumstances and safety concerns, prompting the Big 12 Conference to evaluate potential changes to Saturday's football schedule.
FAA Grounds Nationwide Flights
The FAA ordered a complete halt to all flights nationwide on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, citing a communication issue impacting Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The ground stop, which was active for over four hours, was lifted around 6:30 p.m. on Friday. According to reports from Arizona Sports, the sudden grounding has left several college football teams scrambling as travel windows rapidly narrow for high-profile Saturday matchups.
Utah Travel Disruptions
The disruption directly impacts the scheduled showdown in Tucson between No. 2 Utah and No. 23 Arizona. As reported by KSL's Josh Furlong, the Utah Utes were stuck in Salt Lake City as of Friday evening and were unable to depart for their game at Casino Del Sol Stadium, which is set to kick off at 5:30 p.m. on Fox. While Utah is not considering a 12.5-hour bus ride to Tucson at this time, Yahoo's Ross Dellenger reported that the team will not be able to fly until at least Saturday morning.
Sun Devils Return to Campus
Arizona State's travel to Orlando to face UCF has also been thrown into chaos. Arizona Sports reported that the Sun Devils will not fly out until at least Saturday morning and the team headed back to campus to rest at home. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport informed passengers that flights might not depart until at least 9 p.m. MST, according to Sun Devil Source's Chris Karpman on X. Gambadoro reported that the Sun Devils were not told a specific time they could leave before the team exited the plane.
Conference Evaluates Schedule
The Big 12 Conference released a statement Friday evening regarding the impact on its member institutions. The conference is currently evaluating potential changes to Saturday's football schedule due to the national FAA ground stop. The statement noted that the conference will continue to monitor travel disruptions alongside its member institutions and provide updates for Saturday's games.
International Flight Status
While the ground stop primarily targeted domestic travel, some coastal facilities were able to release select international departures. According to IFR Meter, as of 11:00 p.m. Eastern on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, a nationwide ground stop remained in effect for a large portion of the country, though some coastal facilities had released some international departures. CNBC reported that as of 11:50 p.m. Eastern, cargo and passenger flights were departing the West Coast for Asia and Hawaii.
Massive Flight Disruptions
The scale of the disruption is significant, with FlightAware figures reported by ABC News indicating nearly 5,000 flights were cancelled on Friday and nearly 800 were already cancelled for Saturday. Additionally, approximately 600 flights were diverted, according to CNBC citing Cirium. Airlines such as United and JetBlue have issued travel waivers, with JetBlue stating they expect disruptions to continue into Saturday, including additional cancellations.
Cause Under Investigation
The cause of the outage remains under investigation. While officials have not confirmed a definitive cause, a CBS News report stated that an update to the private communications network that connects America's air traffic control system caused the system to reboot, leading to a crash and a communications outage. The network's operator, L3Harris, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Transportation Secretary previously noted that the FAA issued the ground stop following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
