US Airports Stop Nearly 5,000 Flights Nationwide After Technical Failure

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, 2026. The stop halted every departing flight in the United States for about four and a half hours.

Nearly 5,000 flights were canceled across the country, according to FlightAware. The FAA lifted the ground stop by the evening, and airspace reopened.The FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center issued the order at 12:54 p.m. Pacific time. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a communication issue hit all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.

The FAA later called it a temporary telecommunications outage at its regional centers. Duffy blamed aging analog equipment. He said the system’s switches got overloaded with data, which caused the problem. Controllers had intermittent radio and radar contact during the outage. Duffy said it was not a total blackout.