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U.S. · SECURITY · NOV 13, 7:38 PM ET

FAA issues rare nationwide ground stop; no indication of ‘nefarious attack’

Reported by 33 outlets in the past day, including The Hill, CBS News, ABC News.

1What happened

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop Friday for all airports due a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. ABC News ↗

2What’s next

Takeoffs from airports throughout the U.S. largely stopped on Friday after the FAA issued a national ground stop “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” while planes in the air will be allowed to land. The Verge ↗

3Also reported

Sources told CBS News an update to the network connecting the air traffic control system caused a reboot, crash and outage. CBS News ↗

4Background

Before. The FAA has been replacing air traffic control equipment it describes as decades old. In September, after a communications failure snarled flights in the Northeast, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the telecom network “a 40-year-old architecture”; in November the FAA said floppy disks are still used at more than 400 facilities and will be retired by 2028. Congress approved $12.5 billion for the overhaul in 2025; a $30 billion follow-up bill for air traffic control and airports has not passed.

Now. Officials blamed a telecommunications outage affecting the 22 regional centers that guide planes between airports and said there was no sign of an attack; CBS News reported, citing sources, that a network update caused a crash. It was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023. The FAA is also short of controllers: about 11,000 were certified in April against a target of 12,563, a goal it had lowered by about 2,000.

What remains open. Watch for the FAA’s account of what failed and whether backup systems worked as designed, how long cancellations last, and whether Congress takes up the $30 billion bill.

  1. The FAA halted departures nationwide, citing communications problems at the 22 regional air traffic control centers; the homeland security secretary said there was no indication of a nefarious act. AP via PBS News ↗
  2. The FAA lifted the ground stop after about four hours; cancellations were expected to continue into the weekend. CNBC ↗
  3. The FAA said a new display system will replace four systems dating to the 1980s, used at more than 400 facilities, by the end of 2028, ending its reliance on floppy disks. FAA ↗
  4. The FAA counted about 11,000 certified controllers in April against a target of 12,563, after lowering its goal by about 2,000 in May; it hired a record 2,235 trainees in fiscal 2026. Fortune ↗
  5. Sen. Eric Schmitt introduced the Modern Skies Act, $30 billion more for air traffic control and airports, backed by nearly 60 aviation groups; it builds on the $12.5 billion approved in 2025. General Aviation News ↗
  6. Critics at the Reason Foundation said only about 40% of the bill goes to air traffic control, that it was not in the 2027 budget request, and that without offsets it would be borrowed. Reason Foundation ↗
  7. A failed switch and a severed backup line at the Philadelphia regional center disrupted flights across the Northeast; Duffy called the telecom network a 40-year-old design and asked Congress for more money. AP via PBS News ↗
  8. A failure of the FAA’s pilot-alert (NOTAM) system led to the first nationwide ground stop since Sept. 11, 2001. Wikipedia ↗

Background compiled by Unfinished News from the sources linked. It describes the setting, not the cause.

Sources

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