The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a nationwide ground stop across the U.S., halting departures from every airport in the country. The order took effect at 20:54 UTC (15:54 EST) on Friday 13 November, as first flagged by AirNav Radar.
As a result, departing aircraft must stay on the ground until further notice. However, the FAA will handle inbound international flights on a case by case basis.
What the U.S. Advisory Says
The FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center published the order as Advisory 111, titled “National Ground Stop”.
The advisory cites “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety”. It orders a ground stop at every airport and tells operators to keep all departing traffic on the ground until further notice.
On paper, the advisory window runs until 04:30 UTC on Saturday. Even so, the FAA has not set a firm time for departures to resume across the U.S.
Communication Failure Hits Air Traffic Control
The FAA has linked the stop to communication issues affecting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers. These centres manage aircraft at cruising altitudes, generally above 18,000 feet. FAA technicians are now investigating the fault.
Meanwhile, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy addressed the outage on X. He said the issue was affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.
Reports from the Washington Examiner and The Air Current point to widespread radio frequency outages. Before the national order, the FAA had already placed Chicago O’Hare and Midway under ground stops after an equipment outage, according to CBS News.
So far, the FAA has not named a root cause. For now, it remains unclear how long repairs will take.
What It Means for Passengers
Aircraft already in the air can continue to their destinations. United Airlines, for example, has confirmed that its airborne flights will continue while new domestic departures wait for the order to lift.
That leaves travellers across the U.S. facing long delays at the start of a busy weekend. Transatlantic arrivals from the UK and Europe also fall under the case by case approach for inbound traffic.
Even after departures restart, recovery will take time. Aircraft and crews will sit out of position, and some crews may exceed their legal duty hours. Consequently, disruption across the U.S. network could spill into Saturday. Passengers should check with their airline before travelling to the airport.
A Rare Step for the U.S.
Nationwide ground stops are extremely rare. In fact, this is only the second since the attacks of 11 September 2001.
The previous one came on 11 January 2023, when the FAA’s NOTAM system failed and pilots lost access to vital safety notices. That outage caused more than 10,000 delays and over 1,300 cancellations, although the ground stop itself lasted less than two hours.
The Aviation Hub will update this story as the FAA releases more information. In the meantime, follow every developing incident on our Squawk 7700 hub.
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