The Federal Aviation Administration halted departing flights across the United States on Friday afternoon, November 13, after a telecommunications outage affected air traffic control facilities. The FAA ground stop disrupted more than 10,000 flights, CNBC reported, although some departures were operating by Friday evening.
The agency issued the stop at about 4 p.m. ET, saying communications problems were affecting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. Airlines said aircraft already in the air would continue their flights, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication that the issues represented a threat to the United States.
FAA ground stop follows communications failure
The FAA described the problem in a post on X as a “temporary telecommunications outage” and said it had halted departures out of an “abundance of caution.” An internal Alaska Airlines message seen by CNBC described communications and radar problems.
Officials offered different descriptions of how broadly the communications problem reached. In early reporting carried by KESQ, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the issue was “impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.” CNBC quoted the FAA as saying it was “impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers.”
Those regional facilities guide aircraft at high altitudes along their routes. The FAA said its technicians were investigating, but the cause of Friday’s problem was not immediately clear.
Mullin told reporters Friday afternoon that controllers were still able to communicate and that flights already airborne were landing safely, according to KESQ. He emphasized that the stop had been ordered as a precaution.
Some departures resume by Friday evening
At about 6 p.m., the FAA said flights would be allowed to depart as en route traffic facilities recovered, “through coordination with the air traffic control system.” Inbound international flights would be handled on a case-by-case basis, the agency said.
Flight-tracking data showed some international departures before that announcement. According to Flightradar24 data cited by CNBC, a Lufthansa flight left Boston for Frankfurt, Germany, at 5:21 p.m. ET, and an ITA Airways flight departed Boston for Rome at 5:24 p.m. ET.
By 6:50 p.m. ET, cargo and passenger flights were also departing the West Coast for Asia and Hawaii, CNBC reported. Those departures followed the initial nationwide halt; the FAA’s evening statement tied further departures to the recovery of individual en route facilities.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford spoke with airline chief executives around 6 p.m. and indicated it remained unclear when the situation would be resolved, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
JetBlue prepares cancellations into Saturday
Airlines were preparing to cancel flights as the disruption continued. JetBlue Airways told employees it would cancel the remainder of Friday’s flights except European routes, along with other flights scheduled for Saturday, according to a staff memo seen by CNBC.
The memo said those cancellations would allow crews and aircraft to be positioned to resume operations. Major US airlines also said they would work with affected customers and encouraged travelers to check for updates.
The FAA ground stop came ahead of a large volume of scheduled departures. Flight-data firm Cirium said 11,000 flights were scheduled to leave US airports after 4 p.m. ET Friday, according to CNBC.
A ground stop holds aircraft at their departure points. CNBC noted that disruptions can grow as a stop continues and flight crews reach their maximum daily duty hours.
Palm Springs cancellations and military restrictions
Palm Springs International Airport said at least 10 arriving flights and eight departing flights had been canceled as of 4 p.m., KESQ reported. California officials said the state was closely monitoring the disruption, with its emergency services office contacting federal and state partners to assess effects on airports and passengers.
The restrictions also affected military operations at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, according to KESQ. A base spokesman, identified by the outlet only as a Department of War employee, said the FAA’s Notice to Airmen applied to military flights.
The official said no aircraft were moving or would move until further notice from the federal government. KESQ reported that the regulatory notice did not specify a date or time when the stop would be lifted.
Rare nationwide halt follows earlier technical failures
Nationwide ground stops are extremely rare, CNBC reported. The previous nationwide stop occurred in January 2023 because of problems with a pilot notification system. Before that, flights were halted nationwide after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Other technical failures have caused regional disruptions. In September, hundreds of flights into Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia were canceled, delayed or diverted after a Verizon fiber cable was accidentally cut during construction in New Jersey, severing a backup data feed for controllers, CNBC reported.
In 2025, controllers lost contact with aircraft traveling to and from Newark Liberty International Airport. CNBC reported that the equipment failure caused major delays and raised concerns about aging aviation infrastructure and staffing shortages. Officials had not identified the cause of Friday’s outage.
