Airplanes are parked on the tarmac after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a national ground stop "due to extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety" following the agency's earlier report of serious air traffic control communications issues, at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, in SeaTac, Washington, US, 13 November 2026.
Airplanes are parked on the tarmac after the US Federal Aviation Administration issued a national ground stop "due to extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety" following the agency's earlier report of serious air traffic control communications issues, at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, in SeaTac, Washington, US, 13 November 2026.
Americas

US lifts nationwide flight shutdown after communications failure cancels over 5,400 flights, delays 10,000 others

ReutersWashington

The US Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday after a communications failure at air traffic control centers caused chaos at airports and triggered the longest nationwide shutdown since the 11 September 2001, attacks.

More than 4,700 flights were canceled and 10,000 delayed on Friday, while another 700 had already been canceled for Saturday, according to FlightRadar24.

Aviation analysts said it could take days for airlines to restore their schedules after a nationwide grounding that lasted more than four hours.

The Department of Homeland Security said there were no signs the outage was caused by a cyberattack.

The failure is the latest and most dramatic sign of strain on a US air traffic control system beset by equipment and communications problems, controller shortages and aging infrastructure.

The only other nationwide ground stop since the 11 September attacks came in January 2023, when the FAA halted domestic departures for around 90 minutes.

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