U.S. Grounds All Takeoffs After Nationwide Air‑Traffic Communications Failure

Overview

• The FAA ordered a nationwide ban on takeoffs after intermittent communications and radar failures were detected on Friday, Nov. 13, and reopened U.S. airspace late that evening once core systems were restored.
• The suspension and its messy recovery forced mass disruption: the FAA reported more than 16,000 cancellations across Friday and Saturday and hundreds of thousands of travelers faced long delays, diversions and crowded terminals.
• Federal investigators, including the FBI with reported NSA cooperation, are probing whether a software update, routine maintenance by a contractor or failing equipment triggered a router cascade; officials have said there is no current evidence of a cyberattack.
• Airlines and the FAA say recovery is uneven because aircraft and crews are out of position and must be rebooked and repositioned, and they expect delays and further cancellations to continue for days as schedules are rebuilt.
• The episode highlighted the reliance on decades-old hardware—overloaded switches, routers, copper lines and legacy systems—and strengthened DOT and FAA appeals to Congress for tens of billions in modernization funding, with requests cited between $30.1 billion and $50 billion.