FAA Orders Nationwide Ground Stop on All U.S. Departures After Air Traffic Control Communication Issue

The Federal Aviation Administration halted departing flights at airports across the United States on Friday afternoon, Nov. 13. It is a step the agency almost never takes.

The Air Traffic Control System Command Center issued Advisory 111, titled "National Ground Stop," at 3:54 PM ET. It read: "Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety. Attention all aircraft operators, by order of the Federal Aviation Command Center all airports are ground stopped. All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice. Inbound international flights will be managed on a case by case basis."

What the FAA and Duffy have said

At 4:16 PM ET, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on X that the FAA "issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers." He added: "FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them."

Air Route Traffic Control Centers are the regional facilities that guide aircraft crossing the country.

The FAA's own advisory does not mention a communications problem. It cites only "extraordinary circumstances" and safety. The agency has not publicly confirmed a cause.

Unconfirmed reports on the cause

The Washington Examiner reported that a "rolling frequency outage" at facilities that monitor aircraft prompted the halt. The paper said two FAA employees contacted it shortly after the order took effect and that it saw documentation of the stop. One FAA source told its reporter the situation was "absolutely unheard of." That account rests on the Examiner's anonymous sources and has not been confirmed by the FAA.

Airline communications point the same direction. Messages compiled by FlightDeck show a Delta crew flying from Boston reporting "freq/radio issues." Delta dispatch told another aircraft: "Possible nationwide ground stop coming… multiple frequency outages across the country. Do not push."

On its own status board, the FAA had already listed trouble in Chicago before the national order. Flights bound for O'Hare were stopped from 3:10 PM ET under Advisory 107, citing an "equipment / outage" and "comms issues." Midway got a matching stop under Advisory 109.

Other outlets, citing the FAA's airport status site, also reported weather delays at San Francisco and LaGuardia that day. Reporting out of Oklahoma City said any link between the earlier airport stops and the national order was unclear.

Neither Duffy nor the FAA has said when departures will fully resume.

Status as of 4:26 PM ET

The picture was shifting as of late afternoon. The FAA's National Airspace System status page, updated at 4:26 PM ET, no longer listed a nationwide ground stop. It showed ground stops at Chicago O'Hare and Midway for "equipment outage" through 3:30 PM CST. It also listed equipment-related departure delays at Newark, Houston (IAH), Las Vegas, Orlando, Phoenix and Teterboro.

That page had been inconsistent earlier. At 4:20 PM ET it still did not list the national halt. The New York Times reported that an FAA website listing air traffic control notices appeared to go down shortly after the advisory was posted, erasing dozens of notices. Some online accounts claimed the stop had been lifted, but the FAA had made no official announcement of it.

The advisory also carried time stamps that differ by source. Reporting out of Oklahoma put the estimated end at 10 PM Central. Another account described the advisory as effective through 11 PM Eastern. Both estimates sit under the same instruction: remain grounded "until further notice."

Planes in the air and at the gate

Flightradar24 said at 4:19 PM ET that about 3,100 aircraft were airborne and bound for U.S. airports, with no additional aircraft taking off. Flights already in the air were allowed to continue to their destinations.

Boston Logan International Airport confirmed it was subject to the order. "We are monitoring the situation and working with the FAA and our airline partners," airport officials said, telling passengers to check with their airlines.

Tulsa International Airport said one aircraft turned around and four other flights had not taken off. The number of affected flights nationally has not been released.

How rare this is

The last nationwide ground stop came Jan. 11, 2023, when the Notice to Air Missions system failed. That halt lasted about 90 minutes. It still led to more than 10,000 delays and over 1,300 cancellations, according to figures cited in coverage of that incident. Before 2023, the last nationwide ground stop followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The 2023 failure was traced to a computer system. Today's cause remains unconfirmed.

Funding request made earlier the same day

Earlier Friday, according to FLYING Magazine, the White House and the Department of Transportation urged Congress to approve an additional $30.1 billion for airport improvements and air traffic control modernization. The proposal reportedly includes updated communications systems, control equipment, towers and airport facilities. No source has tied that request to today's outage, and the two events are separate until someone says otherwise.

What travelers should do

Delays and cancellations can continue after departures resume, because aircraft and crews are out of position. Airlines are the authority on individual flights.

The open questions are specific. The FAA has to say what failed, whether the failure is fixed, and when normal departures resume at all airports. Duffy has promised "immediate updates." As of 4:28 PM ET, the agency had issued no statement on full resumption.