US nationwide ground stop lifted after major outage delayed thousands of flights

Nov 14, 2026 - 02:00

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US nationwide ground stop lifted after major outage delayed thousands of flights

The White House has lifted a nationwide ground stop after a major incident led to thousands of flight cancellations across the US.

In a shock alert, a message from the Federal Aviation Administration read: "Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety. Attention all aircraft operators.

"By order of the Federal Aviation Command Center all aiports are ground stopped. All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice."

All US-bound traffic departing from Eurocontrol member states, which includes the United Kingdom and Ireland, were suspended at the FAA's request because of technical issues.

Issuing an updated warning, the FAA said there was a "temporary telecommunications outage" and all flights were halted "out of an abundance of caution".

Flight Radar currently shows around 3,100 airbound flights heading to US airports.

The dramatic grounding will be the second time all flights have been paused since 9/11, when American airspace shut down the day of the terror attack.

The second occasion was in January 2023 when the aviation authority raised the alarm after a pilot notification system failed.

Speaking at a White House briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was currently "no indication" that a cyberattack caused the incident.

He said the administration is moving at an unprecedented pace to ensure everyone is safe and to help stranded passengers.

Secretary Mullin insisted "no one was ever at risk" throughout the ground stop.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the "instability" in the radar communications at air traffic control centres started at 3.36pm Washington time, adding that switches and routers "actually got overloaded with data, and they went down."

He added: "[It's] going to take time to unwind from what's happened today."

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FlightRadar showing flights bound for the US

"Everyone's safe. There's no need to be concerned about your loved ones.

"As we investigate what caused this, you've always got to assume, with as many cyber atacks that take place, but that's not known. First thing, we're going to restore communications then get normal operations."

The FAA's rare intervention has followed a day of travel chaos in relation to serious communication issues earlier in the evening.

An airport which had suffered delays included Midway International Airport in Chicago earlier today.

Just today, the White House asked Congress for more funding to mend an outdated air traffic systems.

The US Department of Transportation and the White House requested the House for a further $30.1billion to upgrade the airports and system.

Last year, Congress approved $12.5billion in July last year.

Issuing a joint statement, the White ⁠House Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the funding was essential.

They said: "This investment is critical to complete the modernisation of our national airspace - delivering a resilient telecommunications backbone for air traffic controllers, modern hardware and software, state-of-the-art control towers, and world-class airport infrastructure."

So far, airports which have urged passengers to check their flight status include: