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FAA issues rare nationwide ground stop

The FAA on Friday issued a rare nationwide ground stop on all domestic flights after what appears to be a major outage affecting its air communications system.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 9 sources•1 min read•Updated November 14, 2026, 12:21 AM UTC
Key points
  • UPDATED: Networks scrambled find the reasons behind on a highly unusual nationwide ground stop ordered by the FAA on Friday due to “extraordinary circumstances” and “reasons of safety.” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said that the order followed “a communication issue impacting all Air Route Control Centers.
  • The US federal aviation regulator announced a nationwide ground stop for all airports.
  • “Every flight has been accounted for and international flights will be handled on a case by case basis,” the FAA added.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced the ground stop on X, citing a "communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers." Duffy promised updates as more information is known and said FAA staff were troubleshooting the problem.

Additional details
  • Reduced flights amid fuel-cost surge may curtail rebooking options.
  • Agency cites “extraordinary circumstances,” while Homeland Security Secretary Mullin says no indication of attack.
  • Federal officials blamed a communications outage and said technicians are investigating.
  • "There's no indication as of yet that this is a nefarious attack against us." Mullin said the FAA would handle incoming international flights on a case-by-case basis.
  • The FAA tweeted just after 5PM ET that, "There has been a temporary telecommunications outage - out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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Every article behind this summary — 10 articles from 9 outlets

MarketWatchNovember 14, 2026, 12:21 AM UTC → The Guardian WorldNovember 14, 2026, 12:09 AM UTC → The Guardian WorldNovember 13, 2026, 11:56 PM UTC → The VergeNovember 13, 2026, 11:47 PM UTC → Ars TechnicaNovember 13, 2026, 11:17 PM UTC → DW NewsNovember 13, 2026, 10:57 PM UTC → SemaforNovember 13, 2026, 10:52 PM UTC → Al JazeeraNovember 13, 2026, 10:02 PM UTC → NPR NewsNovember 13, 2026, 9:55 PM UTC → DeadlineNovember 13, 2026, 9:32 PM UTC →

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