FAA ISSUES NATIONWIDE GROUND STOP FOR ALL USA FLIGHTS.

Albuquerque international airport, New Mexico , USA.
Photo: Niyi Fote/Thenews2

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a rare nationwide ground stop on Friday, November 13, 2026, halting all departing flights across the United States due to a critical communication outage. The unexpected order—triggered by extraordinary safety circumstances after technical problems affected multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers—virtually emptied U.S. skies as thousands of planes were kept at their gates. 

Federal officials, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security representatives, quickly moved to reassure the public that all airborne aircraft remained safe and accounted for. Authorities emphasized that there was no indication of any malicious cyberattack or nefarious threat, attributing the disruption strictly to an internal telecommunications network failure.

After a tense four-hour halt that severely snarled travel schedules, the FAA officially lifted the nationwide ground stop just after 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time as systems were brought back online. However, the cascading disruption left major airports grappling with massive bottlenecks, resulting in thousands of flight delays and cancellations that are expected to ripple through the weekend.

Niyi Fote/Thenews2