The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop Friday evening following a telecommunications outage that halted flights across the United States for more than four hours, according to a November 13 report.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m. EST, though he warned that flight disruptions would continue as officials work to unwind the afternoon's events.
The outage began at 3:36 p.m. EST and affected all 22 air route traffic control centers. Duffy explained that the issue occurred when new technology overwhelmed the FAA’s aging communications network, causing instability in radar data. While technicians have restored operations, Duffy denied that the FAA’s new Smart air traffic management system caused the outage.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated at the White House that officials found no indication the disruption was a terrorist attack or a cyber-attack. Mullin noted that the disruption appeared to be caused by older equipment becoming overwhelmed during the introduction of new technology.
The disruption had significant impacts on air travel. As of Friday afternoon, FlightAware reported that at least 21,504 flights were delayed and 923 were canceled. By 7:45 p.m. EST, nearly 5,000 flights had been canceled, with hundreds of additional cancellations scheduled for Saturday.
At least 600 flights were diverted during the shutdown, including flights redirected to airports in Washington, Chicago, Denver, and Dallas-Fort Worth. Before the nationwide order, the FAA had issued separate ground stops for Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway international airports due to an equipment outage. Restrictions at O’Hare began at 2:10 p.m. CST and at Midway at 2:17 p.m. CST.
Duffy called on Congress to approve an additional $30 billion to modernize the national air traffic control system to prevent such issues. He warned that disruptions could persist into the weekend ahead of the Thanksgiving travel period.
The last nationwide ground stop in the United States occurred in January 2023, when private contractors inadvertently deleted files related to the Notice to Air Missions system.
Salt Lake City International Airport expressed gratitude for the patience of its patrons following the disruption.
The FAA ground stop has been lifted. Travelers are advised to continue contacting their airlines with any flight status questions.
