The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop Friday night, ending a four-hour halt that delayed or canceled more than 11,000 US flights, according to aviation tracker FlightAware. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at 8:15 pm Eastern Time the airspace was opened. The stoppage was the second full US ground stop since 9/11.
What Caused the Shutdown
Duffy said the federal government identified the problem that brought down the US air traffic control system. He said routers got overloaded with data and caused inconsistencies, leading to the system shutdown. In a social media post, he said the stoppage was due to a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.¹²³⁴
A notice from the FAA said the ground stop was imposed due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety. Duffy said more than 3,500 airplanes were in the air when the ground stop was issued. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said preliminary investigations did not indicate a nefarious attack.¹²³⁴
Mullin said there is no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack and it is just a telecommunications outage. He also said there is no connection between this ground stop and the massive global Microsoft outage. According to CNN, the FAA told airlines the outages were the result of router malfunctions believed to have originated at Chicago Midway international airport.¹²³⁴
Mullin said there is no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack and it is just a telecommunications outage.
How Airlines and Airports Responded
United, Delta, Southwest and American Airlines announced they were resuming flights on Friday night after the ground stop was lifted. United said it was restarting operations, including some Friday night flights. American Airlines said it was focused on operating as many remaining flights as possible this evening.¹²³⁴
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Read More →JetBlue Airways told staff it would cancel the remainder of the day's flights, aside from European routes, as well as others scheduled for Saturday. British Airways cancelled a flight to New York due to take off from Heathrow at 10:30pm on Friday night. A spokesperson for Manchester airport confirmed three US-bound flights scheduled to leave on Saturday morning, all operated by Virgin Atlantic, were likely to be affected if the issue was not resolved soon.¹²³⁴
The FAA said it thoroughly tested its systems before clearing flights to resume. San Francisco international airport announced flights bound for Hawaii and Asia were cleared to depart. John F Kennedy airport posted that travelers should confirm flight status with the airline before heading to the airport.¹²³⁴
The Toll on Passengers
There were 11,000 flights scheduled to depart US airports after 4 p.m. ET on Friday, according to flight-data firm Cirium, with 1.5 million passengers. There were about 600 diverted flights on Friday, 104 of them sent to other airports, Cirium said. There were more than 10,000 delays and over 4,000 cancellations listed Friday, according to FlightAware.¹²³⁴
At Los Angeles International Airport, more than 600 flights were delayed and more than 280 had been canceled. A woman named Lola at John F Kennedy airport was frustrated and had rebooked her flight to Atlanta for another day. Zack Richeimer, 29, found himself stuck at LAX's Terminal 6 Friday; his flight home to New York City on Sunday will depart from SFO.¹²³⁴
At Los Angeles International Airport, more than 600 flights were delayed and more than 280 had been canceled.
California Governor Gavin Newsom called the Trump administration to offer more clarity to passengers. Newsom wrote on X that Americans are stuck at airports and deserve answers, clear updates, and a plan to get home safely. US congressman Ro Khanna said he is waiting to be briefed on what led to the technical issues and the ground stoppage.¹²³⁴
An Aging System Under Strain
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Read More →Duffy said the air traffic control system is incredibly old. He said Friday of US air traffic control infrastructure: "It's going to continue to fail." The FAA has more than 14,000 air traffic controllers who handle more than 44,000 flights each day.¹²³⁴
An update to the private communications network that connects America's air traffic control system caused the system to reboot, leading to a crash and a communications outage, according to multiple sources. The system is operated by L3Harris. Mullin said new security patches introduced into the older system appeared to overwhelm its routers.¹²³⁴
The FAA awarded Harris Corp., the predecessor to L3Harris, a contract to modernize, operate and manage the network in July 2002, more than 24 years ago. A November 2023 FAA-commissioned safety review described the FTI network as obsolete and said it depended on an older communications technology known as TDM. Last year, Congress approved $12.5bn to fix the FAA's ageing communications system. On Friday the FAA and White House asked Congress for another $30.1bn to address other issues.¹²³⁴
Old Infrastructure Creates New Career Demand
This outage shows that the air traffic control system, which handles over 44,000 flights daily, relies on technology that a 2023 safety review called obsolete. The system's operator, L3Harris, manages a network that has been under contract since 2002, and the failure stemmed from new security patches overwhelming old routers. For engineers and IT professionals, this points to demand for skills in modernizing legacy systems, particularly in migrating from older technologies like TDM to cloud-based platforms, as the FAA has already begun with its SMART AI tool.¹²³⁴
For engineers and IT professionals, this points to demand for skills in modernizing legacy systems, particularly in migrating from older technologies like TDM to cloud-based platforms, as the FAA has already begun with its SMART AI tool.¹²³⁴
The federal response includes a request for $30.1 billion in additional funding, on top of $12.5 billion already approved, and a proposal for a complete system replacement estimated at $50 billion. This signals sustained government spending on aviation infrastructure, creating opportunities for roles in systems integration, cybersecurity, and project management. For those in aviation-adjacent careers, the lesson is to plan for disruptions: airlines canceled over 4,000 flights, and travelers faced rebooking chaos, so building flexibility into travel schedules and understanding airline compensation policies becomes a practical skill.¹²³⁴
Sources
- theguardian.com — https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/nov/13/faa-nationwide-ground-stop-flights
- cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/13/faa-ground-stop.html
- cbsnews.com — https://www.cbsnews.com/news/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop/
- latimes.com — https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-11-13/faa-issues-nationwide-ground-stop
Written by Career Ahead AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify key facts. Report errors to support@careeraheadonline.com
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