FAA ground stop lifted after nationwide communications outage disrupts flights
A rare FAA ground stop caused by a communications system failure led to hundreds of flight delays and cancellations across the United States and Canada before being lifted Friday evening.
A nationwide ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday afternoon halted all takeoffs at U.S. airports after a key communications platform used by air traffic controllers and pilots experienced intermittent failures. The order was lifted at 8:15 p.m. ET, but the backlog had already produced extensive delays and cancellations. Vancouver International Airport reported more than 150 delayed flights and 69 cancellations by 7 p.m. PT, according to FlightRadar24.
CNN traced the problem to a network router at Chicago Midway International Airport, while CBS News said an update to a private communications network operated by L3Harris caused the system to reboot and crash. The disruption follows the FAA’s recent expansion of artificial-intelligence tools and a cloud-based management system.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the issue as a failure of “legacy” equipment, saying, "Welcome to Friday the 13th," and noting that the outdated system overloaded and went down across the network. He reiterated a request for an additional $30 billion in funding to modernize the FAA’s infrastructure, building on a $12.5 billion allocation previously approved by Congress.
Air Canada warned that flights to and from the Caribbean and South America, as well as U.S.-related routes, could be affected, and offered free rebooking for passengers impacted at several Canadian airports on Nov. 13-14.