FAA lifts nationwide ground stop; recovery under way, delays linger

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 11:43 p.m.: As of 11:43 p.m. ET, the FAA's National Airspace System status feed showed no ground stops and no departure delay programs. The only ground-delay programs listed were at San Francisco (wind) and San Diego (airport volume). Fort Lauderdale and Reagan National remain closed to diversion flights overnight. FlightAware counted nearly 8,000 cancelled and more than 8,500 delayed flights on Friday, the BBC reported.

Officials say there is no link between Friday's ground stop and this week's Microsoft 365 outage. Mullin, as quoted by the Washington Post, said the ground stop was not connected to the outage. Microsoft says that outage, which began around 1 p.m. ET Thursday and affected Outlook, Teams and other services, is now broadly recovered. The company blames an issue from an earlier network capacity upgrade, not a cyberattack, WIRED and MacRumors reported. Some users may still see delayed email, WIRED reported. (FAA NAS status; BBC; Washington Post; WIRED; MacRumors)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 10:40 p.m.: The nationwide ground stop remains lifted, and recovery is under way. In a Friday-night post on X, NAV CANADA said the FAA ground stop has been lifted and that it "will continue working to keep air traffic moving safely and efficiently in Canadian airspace." "Some delays may continue while operations return to normal and backlogs are cleared. Passengers are encouraged to check the status of their flight with their airline," it said. Grey-Bruce travellers connecting through Toronto Pearson should check with their airline before heading to the airport. The FAA Command Center cancelled the nationwide ground stop at 8:19 p.m. ET, according to advisory ATCSCC 005, which states: "The FAA Command Center nationwide ground stop has been cancelled." Air Canada said on its website Friday that the nationwide ground stop "has ended." "It will, however, take time for operations to fully recover, and some flights may continue to be delayed or cancelled," the airline said. If a flight is affected, Air Canada said it will contact passengers directly with updated travel information. In Newfoundland and Labrador, a written statement Friday night said the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre was engaged at level one, which means enhanced monitoring, CBC News reported. St. John's International Airport was preparing for diversions, airport authority CEO Dennis Hogan told CBC earlier Friday; Gander International Airport Authority CEO Reg Wright said earlier Friday that he had not heard of diversions there. As of 10:36 p.m. ET, the FAA's National Airspace System status feed still showed no ground stops. The only ground-delay programs listed were weather and volume delays at San Francisco, LaGuardia and San Diego. (NAV CANADA on X; FAA advisory ATCSCC 005; Air Canada; CBC News N.L.; FAA NAS status)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 10:10 p.m.: As of 10:10 p.m. ET, the FAA's National Airspace System status feed showed no ground stops. It listed only weather and volume delay programs, at San Francisco, LaGuardia and San Diego. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said U.S. airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m. ET but warned that departures would resume gradually. "It's going to be slow," he told reporters at the White House, Reuters reported. Reuters, citing FlightRadar24, now counts more than 6,600 flights cancelled and 8,600 delayed, with another 1,500 already cancelled for Sunday. JetBlue said it expects "disruptions to continue into tomorrow, including additional cancellations," the New York Post reported. Delta, United, American, Southwest, Alaska and Frontier have posted change waivers. Travellers flying to or from the U.S. this weekend should check with their airline before heading to the airport. (FAA NAS status; Reuters; New York Post)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 9:12 p.m.: The FAA has lifted the nationwide ground stop. An FAA Command Center advisory, ATCSCC 005, issued at 8:19 p.m. ET, states: "The FAA Command Center nationwide ground stop has been cancelled." Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the airspace opened at 8:15 p.m. ET, NBC News reported. "After restoring full functionality at our air traffic control centers and TRACONs, the FAA reopened the airspace tonight," Duffy said on X, which the FAA reshared, adding that it "will take us time [to] resume normal operations" and urging travellers to keep checking with their airline. The FAA says airplane departures can resume, MPR News reported, citing The Associated Press. The grounding lasted more than four hours, Reuters reported. At a White House briefing, Duffy gave the first official explanation of the cause, blaming "old switches, old routers" and a "data overload" in a "legacy system," WIRED reported. "We have old switches, old routers, we use 1980s old copper lines. We use an old system," he said, according to DW. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication of a cyberattack and that the public was never in danger, NBC News and DW reported; DHS posted on X that Mullin said officials have seen "zero evidence that this was a cyber attack." More than 4,700 flights were cancelled and 10,000 delayed Friday, and another 700 had already been cancelled for Saturday, Reuters reported, citing FlightRadar24. WIRED reported that FlightAware counted more than 6,300 cancellations at the time the stop was lifted. "It will take us some time to unwind what has happened," Duffy said, according to WIRED, and aviation analysts said it could take days for airlines to restore their schedules, Reuters reported. In Canada, NAV CANADA said on X at 8:51 p.m. ET that the FAA ground stop "has been lifted" and that "some delays may continue while operations return to normal and backlogs are cleared"; Toronto Pearson shared that post. As of 9:05 p.m. ET, neither Pearson nor Montréal-Trudeau had said when U.S. flights would resume, and Air Canada's latest post said it had cancelled all flights to and from the U.S. for the rest of the evening. Travellers should check with their airline before heading to the airport. (FAA advisory ATCSCC 005; Sean Duffy on X; NBC News; MPR News/AP; Reuters; WIRED; DW; DHS on X; NAV CANADA on X)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 8:40 p.m.: The FAA has not announced that the national ground stop is lifted. As of 8:31 p.m. ET, its latest national ground stop advisory was still ATCSCC 120, listing the stop through 11 p.m. ET, and The Banner found no newer advisory cancelling it. Cancellations keep climbing. NPR reported that as of 7 p.m. ET, more than 10,000 flights had been delayed Friday and 4,000 cancelled in the U.S., citing FlightAware. At 8:03 p.m. ET, ABC News reported that nearly 5,000 flights had been cancelled nationwide Friday, also citing FlightAware, with nearly 800 already cancelled for Saturday. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there is no timeline for restarting flights, ABC News reported. Asked whether a cyberattack could be behind it, he said officials were not ruling anything out: "As we investigate what caused this, you always got to assume that, as many cyber attacks that take place, that you make that assumption. But as of right now, that's not known." He has said there is no indication of an attack. Some departures have been allowed. Boston Logan said on X at 5:53 p.m. ET that "the FAA is permitting some transatlantic flights to depart," and San Francisco International said at 6 p.m. ET that Pacific-bound flights were cleared to depart, including to Asia. At 8:31 p.m. ET, the FAA's airport status feed no longer listed the Atlanta and Chicago O'Hare departure delays; it showed no airport ground stops and only ground delay programs at San Francisco and New York LaGuardia (wind) and San Diego and Boston (airport volume). The FAA's only stated cause remains a "temporary telecommunications outage"; no cause has been officially confirmed. (FAA advisory 120; NPR; ABC News; ABC7 on Mullin; Boston Logan on X; SFO on X)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 8:15 p.m.: The FAA has not announced that the national ground stop is lifted. Its latest national ground stop advisory, ATCSCC 120, still lists the stop through 11 p.m. ET, and The Banner found no newer advisory cancelling it as of 8:10 p.m. ET. At 8:10 p.m. ET, the FAA's airport status feed listed departure delays of 3 hours 1 minute to 3 hours 15 minutes at Atlanta, labelled "national stop," and 5 hours 1 minute to 5 hours 15 minutes at Chicago O'Hare, labelled as an FAA equipment issue, both increasing. Some flying has continued: Alaska Airlines said in a 3 p.m. Pacific time statement that flights within Alaska and neighbour-island flights in Hawaii are not affected, and that international flights from Honolulu have been cleared to depart. In Canada, Air Canada said on X at 8:07 p.m. ET that "due to the ongoing FAA ground stop, Air Canada has cancelled all flights to and from the United States for the remainder of the evening," and that flights between Canada, the Caribbean and South America that transit U.S. airspace may also be affected. Toronto Pearson said at 7:05 p.m. ET that international and domestic flights continue to operate where routes do not require transit through U.S. airspace, and that it is increasing staffing across the airport; it has also "implemented a parking plan for aircraft," Business Insider reported. At Montréal-Trudeau, spokesperson Eric Forest told the Montreal Gazette that U.S. flights were suspended "indefinitely"; approaching 8 p.m., 50 flights to or from the U.S. had been cancelled there, the Gazette reported, citing FlightAware. Hamilton International told CBC News by email that "there are no impacts to operations at Hamilton International and flights are operating as scheduled," and urged travellers with U.S. flights to check with their airline. (FAA advisory 120; Alaska Airlines; Air Canada on X; Toronto Pearson on X; Business Insider; Montreal Gazette; CBC News)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 7:45 p.m.: Update: The National Weather Service now says there is no radar outage. In a post on X at 6:14 p.m. ET, the NWS said radar.weather.gov "is fully operational" and that "outdated content from isolated webpages stating otherwise has been circulating, but NWS radars are operating normally." That corrects the NWS web notice The Banner reported in its 6:30 p.m. update. The FAA Command Center advisory carrying the "remains in effect" and "as enroute facilities recover" wording reported at 7:30 p.m. is ATCSCC 120, issued at 5:46 p.m. ET; it lists the national ground stop through 11 p.m. ET, with an update expected then. The FAA has not announced that the stop is lifted. Separately, the Hawaii Department of Transportation said on X that as of 1:55 p.m. Hawaii time (6:55 p.m. ET), "all west coast flights have been halted due to debris from SpaceX launch," and told passengers to check with their carrier. About an hour earlier it had said Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines confirmed West Coast flights would resume. Hawaii DOT attributed the new halt to launch debris, not to the telecommunications outage the FAA has cited. (NWS on X; FAA advisory 120; Hawaii DOT on X)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 7:45 p.m.: Two news reports point to the FAA's telecommunications network, but neither the FAA nor any company has confirmed a cause. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed people briefed on the matter, reported that the outage appears to be affecting a telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies that handles the radio frequencies air traffic controllers use to talk to pilots; it was not immediately clear whether radar feeds were also affected, according to the Journal's report as quoted by The Guardian. Separately, CBS News reported, citing multiple sources, that an update to the private communications network connecting the U.S. air traffic control system caused the system to reboot, leading to a crash and a communications outage. L3Harris manages the FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure network under contract, Scientific American reported; L3Harris and the FAA did not immediately respond to that publication's requests for comment. The FAA's only stated cause remains a "temporary telecommunications outage," and neither the FAA nor L3Harris has publicly confirmed these reports. (The Guardian, quoting the WSJ; CBS News; Scientific American)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 7:30 p.m.: The FAA said in an update shortly after 6 p.m. ET that the nationwide ground stop remains in effect, but that "as enroute facilities recover, flights will be allowed to depart through coordination with the air traffic control system command center," ABC News reported. As of 7:27 p.m. ET, the FAA's airport status feed listed no ground stops at any airport. It listed ground delay programs at San Francisco and New York LaGuardia, both because of wind, and at San Diego and Boston because of airport volume, and showed Washington's Reagan National and Fort Lauderdale airports closed to diverted aircraft. The FAA's national ground stop advisory (ATCSCC 111) is still posted and has not been cancelled, and the FAA has not announced that the stop is lifted. No root cause for the telecommunications outage has been officially given. Passengers should confirm with their airline before heading to the airport.

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 7:30 p.m.: Canadian officials say the country's own air traffic systems are working normally, but flights to and from the U.S. remain affected. NAV CANADA, which runs Canada's civil air navigation system, said on X at 5:44 p.m. ET that because of the FAA ground stop it was putting traffic management measures in place at Toronto Pearson, Montréal-Trudeau, Calgary and Vancouver "to safely manage traffic volumes." At 7:01 p.m. ET it posted that those measures "were lifted shortly after 6 p.m. ET," that "our systems are operating normally," and that "travellers flying to or from the U.S. should continue to check with their airline." Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said on X that the government is monitoring the situation closely and remains in contact with NAV CANADA. "While Canadian systems are operating normally, travel to the United States may be disrupted as a result of the ground stops," he said, CBC News reported. Ottawa International Airport said on social media that all flights to and from the U.S. are impacted until further notice. Airport authority spokesperson Krista Kealey told CBC News that one Ottawa–Boston flight was cancelled, two flights that had already departed returned to Ottawa, and the airport anticipates some flights could be diverted there. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport said it does not anticipate receiving any diverted flights from the U.S. on Friday evening, according to CBC News. Airports are also preparing in case aircraft are diverted. Montréal-Trudeau airport officials told CBC News in an email that they are ready to accommodate aircraft if needed, and Gander International Airport Authority CEO Reg Wright told CBC News he had not heard of any diversions to Gander yet but is keeping an eye on the situation. The NAV CANADA measures that ended were Canadian traffic controls only. The FAA has not announced that the U.S. ground stop is lifted, and cross-border flights are still affected. (NAV CANADA on X; Steven MacKinnon on X; CBC News; CBC Ottawa; CBC Montreal; CBC N.L.)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 7:10 p.m.: With flights grounded, travellers are turning to rail, and Amtrak says its booking systems are straining under the demand. Replying at 5:33 p.m. ET to a customer on X who said she could not book a train on the app or website and could not get through by phone, Amtrak's official account wrote: "We apologize for the error messages on both our website and app, as well as the difficulty reaching a representative. We're currently experiencing higher-than-normal call volumes due to ongoing airline issues. Furthermore, we recommend trying again later." Amtrak has not reported any trains stopped; the problems it described are with booking and reaching agents. (Amtrak on X)

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 6:40 p.m.: As of 6:35 p.m. ET, the FAA's airport status feed no longer listed ground stops at Toronto Pearson or Montréal-Trudeau; earlier, the feed had listed them through 6:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. ET, respectively. That does not mean U.S. service has resumed: The Banner has not seen an announcement from either airport or NAV CANADA that flights to the U.S. are operating again, so passengers should confirm with their airline. The FAA's national ground stop advisory (ATCSCC 111) is still posted on the FAA Command Center's advisory site and says "all departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice." The FAA has not announced that the stop is lifted. The FAA has attributed the stop to a "temporary telecommunications outage" and has not publicly identified a root cause. The FAA feed also lists departure delays at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) of 2 hours 46 minutes to 3 hours, and increasing.

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 6:30 p.m.: The halt is now reaching beyond U.S. borders. In Canada, Toronto Pearson said "there are currently no scheduled U.S.-bound departures or arrivals at this time," CBC News reported, and Montreal-Trudeau's airport authority said flights to and from U.S. airports were suspended until further notice, CityNews reported. In Europe, EUROCONTROL's Network Manager said in a notice to aircraft operators that, at the FAA's request "due to technical issues," all traffic departing within the ECAC area between 2200 UTC on Nov. 13 and 0500 UTC on Nov. 14 (5 p.m. ET Friday to midnight ET) and bound for U.S. airports is suspended, according to the notice, timestamped 6:03 p.m. ET and seen by The Banner. ECAC is the European Civil Aviation Conference area of about 44 states, covering most of Europe; the notice said the Network Manager Operations Centre is monitoring the situation. In Mexico, the federal civil aviation agency, AFAC, said aircraft at Mexican airports with flights scheduled to the U.S. were asked to stay on the ground "until that country's aviation authorities authorize the resumption of flights," according to a statement quoted by El Financiero, which reported that U.S. authorities imposed the restrictions over communication problems. These are departure suspensions for U.S.-bound flights and are separate from the FAA's own ground stop orders. There has been no official announcement that the U.S. ground stop was lifted. Separately, the U.S. National Weather Service said in a notice that it "has been experiencing nation-wide internet and communications issues" and that people "may not be able to access products on our webpages, or these products will be old," KESQ reported; the agency said local offices continue to issue watches, warnings and forecasts. No link between the weather service problems and the FAA outage has been confirmed. Readers in Grey and Bruce: Canadian forecasts and warnings come from Environment Canada, whose forecast pages were loading normally as of 6:30 p.m. ET. [Update, 7:45 p.m.: The National Weather Service later said its radars and radar.weather.gov are operating normally and that the notice came from outdated webpages. See the 7:45 p.m. update.]

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 6:20 p.m.: The FAA said: "There has been a temporary telecommunications outage - out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted. Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis," according to its post as reported by CBS New York. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no sign yet that "this was a nefarious attack against us. It's just a telecommunications outage," WBEZ Chicago reported. No underlying cause for the outage has been officially given. As of 6:19 p.m. ET, the FAA's status feed no longer lists the ground stop for flights bound for Toronto Pearson and still lists one for Montreal-Trudeau until 6:30 p.m. ET. Departure delays listed earlier at Atlanta, Teterboro and Newark no longer appear; Chicago O'Hare shows departure delays of more than three hours and Houston Bush up to 2 hours 45 minutes, both increasing. There has been no official announcement that the nationwide stop was lifted.

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 5:40 p.m.: The FAA now blames a temporary telecommunications outage, and Toronto Pearson says no U.S.-bound departures or arrivals are scheduled for now. The FAA's feed also lists a ground stop for Montreal-Trudeau until 6:30 p.m. ET. There has been no official announcement that the nationwide stop was lifted.

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 5:25 p.m.: The FAA's status feed now lists a ground stop for flights bound for Toronto Pearson International Airport, with the reason given only as "other" and an end time of 6:15 p.m. ET. FAA data rated the chance of an extension high.

Updated Nov. 13, 2026, 4:58 p.m.: The FAA's status feed no longer shows a ground stop, but delays are building at major U.S. hubs. There has been no official announcement that the stop was lifted.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its nationwide ground stop Friday evening, more than four hours after flights were halted at every U.S. airport, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the failure to aging equipment, citing "old switches, old routers," as reported by WIRED. Delays and cancellations are expected to linger.

Flights were halted at every airport in the United States on Friday afternoon after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a rare nationwide ground stop over what the agency later called "a temporary telecommunications outage."

"Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," the FAA alert said, "all airports are ground stopped. All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice," according to the text published by WLKY in Louisville. The order took effect at 3:54 p.m. Eastern with an estimated end time of 11 p.m., News9 in Oklahoma City reported, citing the FAA advisory.

The FAA said it grounded flights "following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers," the facilities that guide planes across the country, CNBC reported. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X the issue hit all of the centres and that "FAA technicians are investigating the issue." In a later statement, the FAA said the problem stemmed from "a temporary telecommunications outage" and that "every flight has been accounted for," NBC Chicago reported. It has not said what caused the outage. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House there was no indication of a "nefarious attack," Axios reported.

As of 4:52 p.m. Eastern, the FAA's airport status feed no longer listed any ground stop, but departure delays were climbing: up to an hour in Atlanta, where the feed gives the reason as "national stop," and up to an hour and 45 minutes at Chicago O'Hare and New Jersey's Teterboro, with Newark close behind. The FAA has not announced that the nationwide stop was lifted.

Toronto Pearson said the stop is affecting flights between Pearson and the U.S. "There are currently no scheduled U.S.-bound departures or arrivals at this time," the airport said in a statement reported by CBC News. Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport told passengers to contact their airlines, and NAV Canada said on X it is monitoring the stop and supporting any diverted aircraft. Grey-Bruce travellers should check with their airline before leaving home. Flights from Toronto Pearson, Billy Bishop, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Quebec City to Boston, New York LaGuardia and San Diego are included in separate FAA delay programs for those airports, which the feed attributes to wind and traffic volume. Live U.S. airport conditions are posted at nasstatus.faa.gov.

Nationwide ground stops are extremely rare, CNBC noted: the last, in January 2023, followed a failure of an FAA pilot alert system, and before that traffic was halted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.