(L/R) US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy looks on as FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford speaks during a press briefing at the Department of Transportation headquarters building in Washington, DC, on November 14, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz | Afp | Getty Images
The longest halt of flight departures to U.S. airports since 9/11 came after updates to a communication system managed by L3Harris Technologies, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday.
A router in a remote location had overloaded other parts of the system and prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to impose a nationwide ground stop on Friday, officials said.
There was “zero evidence” that the problem was caused by something “nefarious” or anything related to artificial intelligence, Bryan Bedford, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said at a press conference.
Bedford said no facilities went dark but noted that officials decided to ground flights because of “instability” in information feeds.
Flight disruptions continued on Saturday. More than 3,700 U.S. flights were canceled Saturday and close to 2,000 were delayed as of 9:40 a.m. ET, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. That’s on top of about 9,000 U.S. flight cancellations and more than 7,000 delays on Friday, though some disruptions were due to bad weather.
Part of untangling from the ground stop includes getting aircraft where they need to be. The ground stop forced many planes to divert to other airports.
Airlines run one of the lightest schedules on Saturday and are deploying as many spare planes and crews as possible to get travelers and employees where they need to be as they’re eager to start fresh for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday period.
American Airlines, for example, is offering flight attendants extra pay to pick up trips, according to a person familiar with the airline’s plans. Delta Air Lines was giving flight crews confirmed seats on flights to get them into position, according to an internal company message seen by CNBC.
American and other airlines said they would change customers’ tickets at no fee or fare difference if the outage affected their plans.
Around 3 million people were scheduled to fly on Saturday, according to aviation data firm Cirium.
The FAA had halted departing U.S. flights around 4 p.m. on Friday, a ground stop that lasted more than four hours. Routers were overloaded with data and started giving air traffic control centers inconsistent information, so the U.S. issued the ground stop, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference late Friday.
He blamed outdated U.S. infrastructure for the problem and said Congress needs to approve more money to overhaul the country’s air traffic control. Aging equipment and a shortage of air traffic controllers have angered airline executives for years, who have complained about the cost of resulting disruptions.
It was the second time the FAA has issued a nationwide ground stop since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Trump administration officials said it did not appear to be a cyberattack.
The U.S. has the world’s busiest airspace.
“Before clearing flights to resume, we thoroughly tested our systems to confirm they were stable and that operations remain reliable,” the FAA said late Friday.
The disruption also upended travel for NBA, NHL and college teams, which struggled to reach their destinations in time for games this weekend.
A general view of Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Nov. 13, 2026, as passengers face delays and strandings after the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all flights.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
Duffy said college football teams traveling on charter flights could receive priority.
“I would encourage those football teams to reach out to the FAA to schedule their flight times and make sure they have games going off tomorrow,” he said during a Friday press briefing.
The Southeastern Conference announced on X that some games had been moved to Sunday due to the flight disruption.
People check in for their flights after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop issued earlier due to “extraordinary circumstances and safety reasons,” following reports of serious air traffic control communication issues, at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, US, November 14, 2026.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
“We are in close communication with our member institutions to assess potential disruptions and coordinate appropriate responses,” the SEC said in a statement shared on X.
The National Football League said that it is putting in three backup referees for three games on Sunday because of the ground stop, “reassigning officials to games within driving distance of their hometowns.”
— CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this article.
This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.
