WASHINGTON, D.C. | Thousands of flights remained canceled across the United States on Saturday, November 14, as airlines struggled to restore normal operations following a nationwide Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ground stop triggered by communications failures in the country’s air traffic control network.
The more than four-hour shutdown on Friday disrupted air travel nationwide, leaving passengers stranded at airports, delaying arrivals and departures, and forcing airlines to cancel thousands of flights even after the FAA lifted the restriction.
The Associated Press reported that more than 2,000 additional flights were canceled on Saturday as airlines worked to reposition aircraft and crews and accommodate stranded passengers. Flight-tracking data cited by ABC News put the combined number of cancellations on Friday and Saturday at more than 12,500, with figures continuing to change.
The FAA initially ordered all U.S. airports to stop departing flights because of communication problems affecting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The agency said the measure was imposed for safety reasons while technicians investigated the disruption.
The ground stop was lifted at approximately 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, allowing departures to gradually resume. However, officials warned that returning to normal schedules would take time and that disruptions could continue through the weekend.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the failure to an aging air traffic control network whose switches and routers became overloaded with data, producing inconsistent information and instability in radar and communications systems. The problems began at approximately 3:36 p.m. Eastern Time, he said.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the introduction of newer technology into the country’s older infrastructure also contributed to the overload. Officials said the immediate technical problem had been resolved before flights were cleared to resume.
Mullin said investigators had found no evidence of a cyberattack or an attack involving artificial intelligence, although the investigation was continuing. The FAA’s newer AI-powered air traffic management system, known as SMART, was not identified as the cause of the outage.
At least 600 flights were diverted during the disruption, according to aviation analytics company Cirium, cited by the Associated Press. Some aircraft remained on airport tarmacs for hours because of congestion and limited gate availability. International flights were also affected, with some departures from other countries to the United States suspended or restricted.
The disruption extended beyond passenger travel. Cargo operations, including shipments handled by major delivery companies, were affected, while professional and college sports teams scrambled to arrange alternative transportation and reschedule games.
The incident exposed longstanding weaknesses in the US air traffic control infrastructure, which relies on aging communications equipment and technology. Duffy said some facilities still depend on outdated switches, routers and copper communication lines dating back decades. The system also faces a shortage of several thousand air traffic controllers, according to Reuters.
The US government has been pursuing a major modernization program. Congress approved $12.5 billion for air traffic control improvements last year, while the White House has sought an additional $30.1 billion for airport and air traffic infrastructure upgrades. Duffy said a broader overhaul could require approximately $50 billion.
Historically, Friday’s shutdown was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when an FAA computer system failure involving the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system disrupted flight operations. Before that, the last nationwide grounding followed the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when authorities ordered aircraft across the country to land as part of emergency security measures.
Unlike the 2001 shutdown, Friday’s action was prompted by an operational communications failure rather than a security threat. The FAA said the decision was made to protect passengers and aircraft while the affected systems were being assessed.
Airlines have advised passengers to check flight status directly with their carriers before going to airports. Under US rules, passengers whose flights are canceled are entitled to a refund if they choose not to travel or free rebooking if they still wish to reach their destinations. Additional compensation is generally not required for disruptions caused by circumstances outside an airline’s control.
Although the FAA has allowed flights to resume, the incident has renewed calls for urgent investment in the country’s aviation infrastructure to prevent another nationwide disruption and protect the reliability of one of the world’s busiest air transportation networks.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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