Follow-Up: Nationwide Ground Stop Still in Effect; Nearly 1,700 U.S. Flights Canceled and Delays Top 10,000 as Airlines Issue Waivers
The nationwide ground stop the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued on November 13 remains in effect. In Advisory 120, issued at 5:46 p.m. Eastern, the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center confirmed that the nationwide ground stop continues, with its window extended to 11:30 p.m. Eastern (8:30 p.m. Pacific); departures will be released progressively, in coordination with the Command Center, as en-route facilities recover, and the next update is expected at 11 p.m. Eastern. As of 3:30 p.m. Pacific, the FAA had not issued a cancellation of the ground stop.
The disruption is still growing. According to flight-tracking service FlightAware, nearly 1,700 U.S. flights had been canceled and more than 10,000 delayed as of 6 p.m. Eastern. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said 26,284 departures were scheduled across the United States on Friday, about 11,000 of them after 4 p.m. Eastern, covering more than 1.5 million passengers in that window.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters outside the White House that the stoppage stemmed from a telecommunications outage, that there was no indication of a nefarious attack, that resolving it would take some time with no timeline for restoring operations, and that President Trump has been briefed on the situation. Mullin also said the government is looking at whether the failure is connected to a new system the FAA had been rolling out, with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) taking part in the review. The FAA said every flight that was airborne when the stop was ordered has been accounted for.
On the cause, the FAA and the Department of Transportation have confirmed only a communications problem affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers; the specific failed system has not been identified. Two further accounts come from media reporting rather than official announcements: Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that the FBI is investigating whether a software update triggered the failure and that investigators do not believe it resulted from a cyberattack or criminal conduct, a conclusion neither the FBI nor the FAA has publicly issued; and The Wall Street Journal, citing people briefed on the matter, reported that the outage appears to involve a telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies. The official public line so far remains the FAA's communications-failure account and Mullin's statement that there is no indication of a malicious attack.
Major airlines have begun issuing travel waivers: Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines are letting affected customers change their trips at no extra cost. American Airlines said it expects its operations to be affected for the rest of Friday evening and that it will be all hands on deck to get customers moving once the FAA lifts the stop. United said all of its new domestic departures were halted, with international departures managed case by case. Under Department of Transportation rules, passengers whose flights are canceled and who choose not to travel are entitled to a refund.
Partial releases have begun. San Francisco International Airport announced at 3 p.m. Pacific that Pacific-bound flights to Hawaii and Asia had been cleared to depart, and airlines said some departures had been permitted as of 6 p.m. Eastern. A full lifting of the nationwide ground stop, however, still awaits a formal FAA advisory, and GSM will keep following the story.
Related: FAA Orders Nationwide Ground Stop: All U.S. Departures Held After Air Traffic Control Communications Failure, First Nationwide Halt Since 2023 (Source: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration)
Source: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：波士顿洛根国际机场停机坪，多架客机停靠在登机口旁。4300streetcar 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons，本图已裁为 16:9。 / Photo: Airliners parked at gates on the apron of Boston Logan International Airport. By 4300streetcar, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped to 16:9.
- 2026-11-13FAA Orders Nationwide Ground Stop: All U.S. Departures Held After Air Traffic Control Communications Failure, First Nationwide Halt Since 2023
- 2026-11-13Follow-Up: Nationwide Ground Stop Still in Effect; Nearly 1,700 U.S. Flights Canceled and Delays Top 10,000 as Airlines Issue WaiversThis story
