FAA grounds all US flights after nationwide communications failure

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),  Joburg 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.

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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