FAA orders nationwide ground stop after air traffic control communications problems

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop Friday afternoon because of communications problems affecting regional air traffic control centers, The Associated Press reported.

The order had been issued by about 22:20 UTC on November 13, 2026, when the available evidence was checked. The information reviewed did not independently establish whether the ground stop was still in effect at that time. The FAA’s national airspace status page could not be verified because it displayed a JavaScript shell.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the problem affected 22 regional centers and that technicians were investigating, according to AP. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no evidence yet of a malicious attack and no timetable for restarting operations, AP reported.

Axios reported that the FAA advisory directed departing traffic to remain on the ground until further notice, while inbound international flights would be handled individually. Axios also quoted the FAA as saying multiple air route traffic control centers were affected. The advisory itself was inaccessible to DutyStation News, so its contents could not be checked directly.

The reviewed material did not confirm the cause, the full extent of the systems affected or a recovery time. It also did not establish a connection to Microsoft or artificial intelligence tools.

An aviation expert told AP that the order differed from the 2001 shutdown because aircraft already in flight were not being instructed to land immediately. AP described Friday’s order as the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023.

Separately, a 2026 Government Accountability Office report warned of risks associated with aging air traffic systems and found that the FAA had not developed a reliable lifecycle cost estimate or integrated master schedule for its modernization effort. The report provides background on the system; it does not establish what caused Friday’s communications problems.

DutyStation News prepared this AI-assisted article using the linked public sources.