Overview
- A temporary telecommunications outage prompted the FAA to issue a nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, that paused all departing flights while controllers accounted for every aircraft.
- The agency said the disruption affected air-traffic-control communications but did not require planes already airborne to land immediately and that international departures would be cleared on a case-by-case basis.
- Airlines quickly posted travel advisories, with Air India directing customers to use its website’s Book and Manage → Flight Status tool with flight number, PNR or route and travel date to check updates.
- Reports from national outlets said thousands of flights were affected, leaving many travelers stranded at airports and causing widespread cancellations and delays as operations slowly resumed.
- Observers noted this was the third nationwide ground stop in U.S. history and the longest pause since Sept. 11, 2001, raising fresh questions about the resilience of air-traffic-control communications ahead of peak holiday travel.