[Video] Follow-Up: FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop After More Than Four Hours; Nearly 6,000 Friday Flights Canceled, Weekend Schedules Still Disrupted
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an advisory at about 8:30 p.m. Eastern on November 13 canceling the nationwide ground stop it had imposed that afternoon, and departures began resuming at airports across the United States. The stop had taken effect at 3:54 p.m. Eastern over communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers and lasted more than four hours. It was the second time since the September 11, 2001 attacks that all U.S. departures were halted nationwide; the previous occasion was in January 2023.
The disruption is still growing. The Wall Street Journal, citing flight-tracking service FlightAware, reported that as of 7:40 p.m. Eastern more than 4,500 U.S. flights had been canceled and more than 10,000 delayed; airlines canceled close to 6,000 flights in total on Friday, and nearly 1,000 more flights scheduled for Saturday have already been scrubbed. With aircraft and crews displaced across the network, cancellations and delays are expected to stretch into the weekend.
The FAA said its technicians are still investigating the telecommunications outage that affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, and the specific failed system has not been identified. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said earlier in the day that there was no indication of a nefarious attack, and that every flight airborne when the stop was ordered has been accounted for.
The lifting of the stop does not mean schedules snap back at once. The fee-free rebooking waivers issued earlier by Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines remain in effect, and under Department of Transportation rules passengers whose flights are canceled and who choose not to travel are entitled to a refund. The FAA has not yet issued its next formal update or a conclusion on the cause, 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：芝加哥 O'Hare 国际机场航拍全景，本次全国停飞最早在芝加哥两座机场一带发出。Jun Seita 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons，本图已裁为 16:9。 / Photo: Aerial view of Chicago O'Hare International Airport; the nationwide ground stop was first issued around Chicago's two airports. By Jun Seita, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped to 16:9.
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