FAA lifts nationwide ground stop that blocked takeoffs for hours

More than 4 hours after the stop was released, authorities revealed it was raised at 8:15 PM ET which flights will resume. It’s uncertain the number of flights will have the ability to remove and when, as they now deal with issues of overloaded airports and flight teams that have actually lacked time to run the aircrafts, indicating many individuals will be stuck where they are for the time being and more flights will be postponed or canceled.

In an interview revealing that the stop had actually been raised, Transportation Secretary Ryan Duffy blamed an aging air traffic control service system that he is pursuing funds to change, stating that the TRACONs (Terminal Radar Approach Control) in the air traffic control focuses “begun to have disparity in the information from the radars and the interactions from aircrafts.” He stated that the gadgets that had the concern were analog telecom gadgets, where the switches/ routers “got overwhelmed with information” and began to reveal disparity. An earlier report from CBS News mentioned numerous sources who stated that an upgrade to the air traffic control service system’s personal interactions network, run by L3Harris, triggered a system reboot and the subsequent interruption. L3Harris has not yet reacted to an ask for remark from The Verge

The flight tracking website FlightAware lists 9,124 United States flights as postponed and 5,901 flights canceled since 8:39 PM ET.

When inquired about any possible connection to the cloud-based AI Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories

>(SMART) system”https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/11/faa-expands-ai-advice-to-manage-air-traffic-congestion-across-entire-us-airspace/”that was triggered >across the country”https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/statements/general-statements#:~:text=SMART%20Expanding%20Across%20the%20Nation”on November 10th, he stated they were checking out that. Air Space Intelligence (ASI), the business that created the system and was granted a >12-year $875 million agreement”https://www.asi.com/news/asi-awarded-faa-contract-fmds-smart”in June to release it, rejected any connection, >tweeting”https://x.com/AirSpaceIntel/status/2121371183836696583″”The present ground stop is not based upon or an outcome of the SMART system, any item of ASI or our combination with FAA and ATC.” Jon Ostrower of

The Air Current reports that the failure started with the Chicago air traffic control service center, followed by centers in Boston, Washington, New York, and Minneapolis, and as the FAA provided a ground pick up airplane flying east, more centers started reporting issues. He stated the issues interrupted both the radar and radio frequencies utilized by air traffic controllers and pilots.”https://theaircurrent.com/intel/faa-confirms-nationwide-groundstop-due-to-widespread-atc-frequency-issues/”Upgraded, Friday, November 13th:

Included that the stop has actually been raised.

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