By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop Friday, Nov. 13, suspending departing flights at airports across the United States after a communications failure affected air traffic control facilities responsible for directing aircraft between airports.
The emergency order was issued at approximately 3:54 p.m. Eastern time, with the FAA citing extraordinary circumstances and safety concerns. The directive instructed aircraft operators to keep departing flights on the ground until further notice, while aircraft already airborne were permitted to continue operating under air traffic control instructions.
According to Reuters, the disruption affected communications systems at air traffic control centers nationwide, prompting the FAA to halt departures while technicians investigated the malfunction.
The FAA’s order stated that all departing aircraft were subject to the ground stop, with international flights arriving in the United States to be managed individually.
The interruption affected the country’s 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers, which coordinate aircraft movements through large sections of controlled airspace.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed that a communications problem was affecting air traffic control operations and said FAA technicians were investigating the outage.
The nationwide restrictions disrupted travel at major airports, including facilities serving New York, Chicago, Houston and other metropolitan areas.
Flight-tracking service FlightAware reported nearly 7,000 delayed or canceled flights during the disruption, according to Reuters. The figures included flights affected by the nationwide restrictions and associated operational delays.
Earlier Friday, the FAA had issued ground stops at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway international airports because of an equipment outage. The nationwide restriction followed as the agency investigated communications problems affecting the broader air traffic control system.
Duffy confirmed the nationwide order in a public statement.
“The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them,” Duffy said.
The disruption did not require aircraft already in flight to land immediately. Pilots could continue operating under established flight plans and instructions from air traffic controllers, although some flights faced delays while approaching their destinations.
International flights entering U.S. airspace were subject to separate handling arrangements, with the FAA evaluating inbound operations individually.
The nationwide ground stop was the first since January 2023, when a malfunction in the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system disrupted flight operations. Before that incident, the agency had implemented a nationwide departure halt following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The 2023 outage involved the system used to provide pilots with essential safety information before departure. Friday’s incident involved communications infrastructure used by air traffic controllers to coordinate aircraft movements.
The disruption comes as the federal government continues a multiyear effort to modernize the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure.
Congress approved $12.5 billion in 2025 for modernization projects, including replacing aging copper communications lines with fiber-optic connections and upgrading radio equipment at airports.
The Transportation Department has said approximately $30 billion in additional funding will be necessary to complete the planned improvements. The White House has urged Congress to approve the remaining funding.
The FAA has not determined whether aging infrastructure contributed to Friday’s communications failure.
Major airlines and airport authorities advised passengers to verify their flight status directly with carriers before traveling to airports, as the suspension of departures affected aircraft scheduling and connections throughout the national aviation system.
Fox News carried breaking video coverage of the nationwide ground stop.
As of Friday afternoon, FAA technicians were investigating the communications failure. Officials had not publicly identified its precise cause or announced a confirmed timetable for restoring normal nationwide flight operations.
Original article
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