US ground stop lifted after communications failure causes nationwide flight chaos

The Federal Aviation Administration announced a nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon after a communications failure at air‑traffic‑control centres, throwing U.S. airports into sudden chaos. FlightRadar24 reported that more than 6,600 flights were cancelled and 8,600 delayed, with an additional 1,500 cancellations slated for Sunday.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the airspace reopened at 8.15 pm ET (0115 GMT) on Friday, but departures would resume gradually. “It’s going to be slow,” he warned. The four‑hour grounding, the longest since the September 11, 2001 attacks, could disrupt airline schedules for days, analysts said.

Eurocontrol issued a notice suspending all U.S.-bound departures from European airports until 5 am UTC on Saturday. Major carriers such as American, United and Southwest began resuming flights Friday night, and Delta posted a statement thanking passengers: “Thank you for your understanding as we work as quickly as possible to fully restore normal operations.”

Duffy told reporters the federal government had “identified the problem” that knocked the air‑traffic‑control system offline and that the system was “operational right now.” He described the infrastructure as “incredibly old” and explained that overloaded routers produced inconsistent data, forcing the shutdown: “Our routers actually got overloaded with data, and … they started to give us inconsistency in the data from those routers. And because of that, we shut the system down.”

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said preliminary investigations found no indication the communications stoppage was tied to a “nefarious attack.” Duffy also placed blame on Congress for the situation, though the comment was not fully quoted in the source.

Why it matters

The incident highlights how aging air‑traffic‑control technology can trigger widespread travel disruptions, affecting both domestic and international flights.

Key details

Location

United States · Americas

Reported by

The Guardian

First reported

14 Nov 2026, 11:25 IST

Key names

Chaos, Sign, We’re, Washington DC

Section

Travel

Sources

This is an independent summary. Read the full, original reporting from the publisher:

• The GuardianAirport chaos continues after US ground stop lifted – as it happened 14 Nov, 11:25

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