Representative image. Choikwangmo25, CC0, Wikimedia Commons
Why it matters
A halt across the whole US air system spreads past its borders: Eurocontrol held US-bound flights from Europe, and passengers connecting through US hubs face delays even after the order lifts.
The United States stopped every departing flight at its airports on Friday, 13 November 2026, after a telecommunications outage hit all 22 regional air traffic control centres. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) called the US ground stop a safety measure. Planes already in the air were allowed to land, and international flights were handled one by one.
For Indian readers, the halt began in the early hours of Saturday, 14 November. The order was to stay in place until at least 11 pm US Eastern time on Friday, which is 9:30 am on Saturday in India, according to the Times of India. Officials gave no firm time for normal flying to return in the reports read for this article by 6:45 am IST.
What the FAA and US officials said
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the halt on X. He said a communication issue had affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers and that FAA technicians were looking into it. These centres guide aircraft along the long stretches between airports, so a fault there touches almost every flight.
Planes already flying were not left without a plan. Aviation professor Skip Bailey told AP, as quoted by the Times of India, that pilots who lose radio contact are trained to keep their assigned heading and route, then follow their filed flight plan. Stopping new take-offs keeps more aircraft out of a system that is already strained.
The FAA’s own post said every flight had been accounted for and that the stop was taken “out of an abundance of caution”, the news agency ANI reported in a story carried by The Tribune. The agency’s order cited “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety”.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that there was no sign so far of an attack. He called it a telecommunication outage, though he said no cause had been ruled out, including a cyberattack. President Donald Trump said a cyberattack or artificial intelligence was unlikely to be behind it, the Times of India reported.
What may have caused the FAA ground stop
The cause had not been established. US broadcaster CNN, citing an airline source, reported that the FAA told carriers the problem lay with network routers and may have started at Chicago Midway International Airport. That account has not been confirmed by the FAA in the material we read.
Officials also set aside two other theories on Friday. The firm behind SMART, a new AI-assisted FAA planning tool, said the halt was not caused by its system, which does not run the regional centres. Mullin also said the outage was not linked to a large Microsoft disruption earlier in the week, and Microsoft said it saw no link either.
How many flights were hit
The US flights grounded on Friday are being counted in two ways, and the counts measure different things. Cirium, an aviation data firm, counted 481 flights cancelled or not departed within 180 minutes of schedule as of 4:40 pm Eastern time. FlightAware, a flight-tracking site, put the number of delayed or cancelled flights at about 7,000, a wider measure that includes shorter delays.
| Measure | Figure | India time |
|---|---|---|
| Flights scheduled to leave US airports on Friday (Cirium) | 26,284 | Full US day |
| Cancelled or not departed within 180 minutes (Cirium) | 481 | As of 3:10 am IST, Saturday |
| Flights scheduled after 4 pm Eastern (Cirium) | About 11,000 | From 2:30 am IST, Saturday |
| Flights in the air heading to US airports when the stop was issued (Flightradar24) | About 4,042 | Not given |
| Ground stop in force until at least | 11 pm Eastern, Friday | 9:30 am IST, Saturday |
NewsPlainly’s calculation: 481 is 1.8% of Friday’s 26,284 scheduled departures, while the roughly 11,000 flights due after 4 pm make up about 42% of the day. That is why the count of US flights grounded or delayed was expected to climb through the evening. India times are converted from US Eastern Standard Time, which runs 10 hours 30 minutes behind IST.
Effect of the US ground stop beyond America
The halt reached Europe too. Eurocontrol’s website showed that US-bound flights leaving its 42 member states had been suspended at the FAA’s request, according to the Times of India. United Airlines said its domestic flights would not leave during the stop, with international departures decided by the FAA case by case. American Airlines said it expected disruption for the rest of the day.
How rare a nationwide halt is
This was the first nationwide suspension since January 2023, when an FAA computer system failed, and only the second such order since the attacks of 11 September 2001, the Times of India reported. Mullin drew the line himself while the US ground stop was in force, telling reporters that Friday’s halt was not comparable to 9/11.
The outage has also put money back in the debate. The US Congress approved $12.5 billion last year to replace old copper wiring with fibre-optic lines and upgrade radios, and Duffy has said another $30 billion is needed, according to the same report.
What travellers flying to or from the US can do
- Check the flight’s status with the airline before leaving for the airport. New York’s John F Kennedy (JFK) and LaGuardia airports gave the same advice.
- If a connection runs through a US airport on Saturday, while US flights grounded overnight are cleared, expect knock-on delays even after the halt lifts, since thousands of planes and crews will be out of position.
- Keep booking references handy. American Airlines said it would move passengers as soon as the FAA lifted the order, but neither it nor United gave a time.
Any change to the US ground stop will come from the FAA and Duffy’s posts on X first. For more international news, see NewsPlainly’s World section.
Frequently asked questions
Why did the US ground all flights?
The FAA halted departures after a telecommunications outage hit all 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers. Officials called it a safety measure; the exact cause was still being investigated.
Was the US ground stop a cyberattack?
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication of an attack, though no cause had been ruled out. President Trump said a cyberattack was unlikely.
How long will the FAA ground stop last?
The order was in effect until at least 11 pm US Eastern time on Friday, which is 9:30 am IST on Saturday, 14 November. Officials gave no firm restart time.
How many flights were affected?
Cirium counted 481 flights cancelled or delayed by over 180 minutes as of 4:40 pm Eastern. FlightAware put delayed or cancelled flights at about 7,000.