Flights across the United States were temporarily grounded after a communications failure affected air traffic control centres nationwide, prompting an emergency safety order from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Cape {town} Etc reports.
In its initial advisory on Friday, 13 November, the FAA instructed aircraft operators to keep all departing traffic grounded until further notice, citing ‘extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety’.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed in a statement shared on X that the disruption followed a communications issue affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centres, adding that FAA technicians were investigating.
Update from The White House https://t.co/pNjkz3znSB
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) November 14, 2026
The FAA later described the incident as a ‘temporary telecommunications outage’. In a further statement, the agency said: ‘Out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted.’
It also confirmed that every flight had been accounted for, while international arrivals would be managed on a case-by-case basis.
Today’s nationwide ground stop happened because our air traffic control system is operating on DECADES-OLD, analog equipment that simply cannot compete with the demands of the 21st century.
@FAANews is modernizing this aging infrastructure thanks to a $12.5 billion down payment secured by President Trump, but that isn’t ENOUGH.
@POTUS is asking Congress to give us the resources to build a state-of-the-art air traffic control system. Let’s not do a patchwork fix to a system that’s critical for every single family.
It’s time for Congress to act. Give us the money to fix it. PASS THE MODERN SKIES ACT NOW.
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) November 14, 2026
Nationwide grounding lifted after hours of disruption
The ground stop was subsequently lifted after more than four hours. The FAA’s decision followed checks of the affected systems, allowing departures to resume.
According to CNN’s report, the last nationwide ground stop occurred in January 2023 following an outage involving the FAA’s pilot notification system.
Although departures resumed, the disruption left airlines facing cancellations and delays as aircraft and crews worked to return to their scheduled operations.
South African travellers connecting through US airports should check directly with their airlines for updated departure times and possible changes to connecting flights.
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Picture: @FAANews / X
