Breaking news: FAA orders third-ever nationwide ground stop

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop at U.S. airports Friday, November 13.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the stoppage to a “communication issue.”

“FAA technicians are investigating the issue,” he said in a statement, noting that the problem affected all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.

The advisory issued to airports by the Air Traffic Control System Command Center said, “Due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety, attention all aircraft operations, by order of the Federal Aviation Command Center, all airports are ground stopped. All departing traffic should remain ground stopped until further notice.”

This is the third-ever nationwide halt. Previous ground stops came after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and during a January 11, 2023, computer outage.

The 2023 outage disabled the FAA’s NOTAM system, which provides safety information to flight crews. The agency paused domestic departures while it checked the integrity of flight and safety information.

An FAA investigation found that contractors accidentally deleted files while trying to synchronize the system’s main database with a backup. The agency said in its January 19, 2023, statement that it had found no evidence of a cyberattack or malicious intent.

That ground stop lasted only about an hour and a half, but disruptions continued. By that afternoon, about 9,000 flights had been delayed and 1,300 canceled, according to the agency’s historical account.

The September 11 shutdown went further. The FAA halted civilian takeoffs nationwide and then ordered aircraft already in the air to land at the nearest airport as soon as practical. More than 4,500 aircraft were flying under instrument flight rules when the landing order came.

Previously, air traffic was restricted nationwide for planned drills during the Cold War.