- The FAA said airborne aircraft could land during the departure halt.
- Inbound international flights were to be handled case by case.
A telecommunications network overseen by L3Harris Technologies was reportedly at the center of the air traffic communications outage behind the FAA Ground Stop on Friday, November 13, 2026. The halt began at 15:53 Eastern Time. By 6:20 p.m., FlightAware counted more than 2,000 flight cancellations and more than 10,000 delays nationwide.
United and Delta offered customers options to change travel. Delta allowed free changes for Friday and Saturday, while United waived change fees and fare differences for qualifying flights departing through November 20.
The Federal Aviation Administration halted departures across the country, citing safety and extraordinary circumstances. The disruption affected air traffic control communications.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said FAA technicians were investigating an issue affecting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The agency later said departures would resume as facilities recovered.
The FAA stopped departures over an air traffic control communications issue
The stop applied to departing flights. Aircraft already in the air could land, while inbound international flights would be handled individually. The FAA said the halt would remain until further notice.
Shortly after 6 p.m., the agency said departures would resume in coordination with its air traffic control command center as facilities recovered.
“As enroute facilities recover, flights will be allowed to depart through coordination with the air traffic control system command center.”
The FAA had not said what caused the communications failure. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said officials had no timeline for restarting flights.
People briefed on the outage described a network used for controller-pilot radio
People briefed on the matter said the network carries radio frequencies air traffic controllers use to communicate with pilots. Neither the FAA nor L3Harris had confirmed L3Harris's role beyond the reported briefing.
The underlying cause remained under investigation. Mullin said there was no indication the outage was a nefarious attack, while officials were examining what had happened.
The network’s reported role concerns controller-pilot communications. It was unclear whether the disruption affected radar feeds used by controllers to keep aircraft separated.
FlightAware counted more than 2,000 cancellations by 6:20 p.m.
The number of affected flights rose through the evening. FlightAware’s earlier count, as of 6:04 p.m. ET, was 1,913 cancellations and 10,494 delays. By 6:20 p.m., the tracker recorded more than 2,000 cancellations and more than 10,000 delays.
Passengers described aircraft returning to gates after taxiing and travelers being asked to leave planes. Some Canadian airports also reported suspensions of flights to the United States.
United and Delta set different limits on free flight changes
The airlines’ waivers set different eligible travel windows:
- Delta: Free flight changes for Friday and Saturday.
- United: Change fees and fare differences waived for a United flight departing November 12–20, 2026. The replacement flight must be in the same cabin and between the same cities as the original booking.
United’s window ends November 20. Delta’s waiver covered Friday and Saturday.
