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Business & Finance · November 13, 2026

FAA lifts ground stop after four hours, but flight cancellations will stretch into the weekend

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On Friday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a rare nationwide ground stop for all departing flights, citing "extraordinary circumstances" and "reasons of safety." The halt, which lasted several hours, disrupted thousands of flights across the United States. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later attributed the outage to outdated telecommunications routers that became overloaded with data, leading to instability in radar and communication systems. While flight departures were halted, arriving aircraft already in the air were generally permitted to land. Authorities, including Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, stated there is no evidence of a "nefarious attack" or terrorism. The ground stop was lifted late Friday evening, though delays and cancellations were expected to persist through the weekend.

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Reported by multiple outlets

  • The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon.
  • The agency cited 'extraordinary circumstances' and 'reasons of safety' as the official justification.
  • The order applied to departing aircraft, while planes already en route were permitted to land.
  • Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated there is no indication of a 'nefarious attack' or terrorist act.
  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the failure to overloaded telecommunications routers.
  • This was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023.

Reported by only some outlets

  • Secretary Sean Duffy noted the routers were part of an 'outdated' system.
  • San Francisco International Airport (SFO) reported clearing Pacific-bound flights for departure by 3 p.m. local time.
  • The FAA had expanded a new AI tool called SMART to manage air traffic just one day prior to the outage.
  • NBC News reported Secretary Duffy called for more FAA funding following the incident.
  • The FAA lifted the ground stop at 8:15 p.m. ET.

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