Overview
- The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop that halted all U.S. departures after technicians detected a communications problem affecting every Air Route Traffic Control Center on Nov. 13, 2026.
- Major carriers including Delta, American and United suspended departures and flight-tracking services reported roughly 7,000 delays or cancellations with tens of thousands of scheduled operations at risk.
- Aircraft already in flight were allowed to continue and land, while international arrivals will be decided case by case and Mexico’s AFAC ordered U.S.-bound flights at Mexican airports to remain grounded.
- FAA technicians are investigating the outage and Department of Homeland Security officials said there is no current evidence the failure was caused by a malicious attack, though inquiries are ongoing.
- The failure renewed focus on aging radio and control equipment at the FAA, which received $12.5 billion for modernization in 2025 and has now sought an additional $30.1 billion to prevent cascading delays and crew-time limit cancellations.