Thousands of flights canceled after nationwide FAA ground stop
A nationwide air traffic ground stop forced the cancellation of more than 6,000 flights, prompting airlines and officials to work on restoring service ahead of the Thanksgiving travel period.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop on Friday, leading to the cancellation of over 6,000 flights within, into or out of the United States, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. The disruption, the first of its kind since January 2023, affected roughly a quarter of the 45,000 daily flights, aviation consultant Andrew Charlton said.
FAA Administrator Mike Duffy said investigators are looking into whether contractor incompetence or a faulty router caused the outage. “Our contractor didn’t meet the moment or the equipment didn’t meet the moment,” he told reporters. L3Harris, a defense contractor supporting the FAA, said it is helping “understand the conditions” that led to the stop.
While more than 3,000 aircraft already in the air landed safely, the grounding order halted departures and left many passengers stranded at airports across the country. Some travelers waited in hotels, others camped in terminals, and a few airports saw impromptu activities such as a classical-music serenade in Seattle and a cornhole tournament in Lexington, Kentucky.
Airlines attempted to manage the chaos. A Southwest gate agent at Dallas Love Field greeted passengers with a cheerful “Good morning, good morning,” but noted that all flights were full and urged travelers to have boarding passes ready. At Newark, passenger Umi Egchi said, “I’m not sure exactly what happened. I just want to go home.”
Sports events were also impacted; the No. 19 Mississippi football game at Oklahoma was delayed by a day. Officials said the FAA’s modernization program, funded by $12.5 billion approved by Congress, has replaced much of the old copper wiring with fiber-optic lines but still requires additional investment. Duffy and the White House are seeking $30 billion more to finish upgrades to air-traffic control towers and runways.
“The aging infrastructure throughout the airspace” makes safe operations difficult, Duffy said, adding that flying remains safe but “you won’t get to your destination if we don’t think you can get there safely.” Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo, a former United Airlines pilot, explained that loss of reliable controller-pilot communication forces a ground stop to prevent unsafe flights.
President Donald Trump has not issued a public statement on the incident, though Duffy said he has spoken with the president by phone since the grounding began.