FAA Grounds Nationwide Flights Over Communications Issue

The FAA grounded most U.S. departures nationwide for more than four hours on Friday, Nov. 13, after telecommunications failures disrupted air traffic control centers; aircraft already airborne generally continued to their destinations, while incoming flights were handled case by case. Officials said aging routers and switches were overwhelmed by data and produced inconsistent information, and reported no evidence of a cyberattack while the investigation continued. The outage caused thousands of delays, cancellations and diversions, affecting an estimated 1.5 million passengers and some international services bound for the United States. Flights resumed late Friday, but misplaced aircraft and crews prolonged disruption, and airlines urged passengers to check flight status and prepare for further delays. The outage renewed concerns about aging aviation infrastructure and was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023; the day before, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had sought $30.1 billion from Congress to modernize the system.

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