Old tech to blame for US ground stop, says transport chief
Cyberattack and Microsoft outage ruled out.
Secretary of Transport Sean Duffy. Source White House Broadcast on X.
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- The FAA lifted a nationwide ground stop after about four hours.
- Officials said overloaded telecom switches caused inconsistent data at multiple air traffic control centers.
- More than 15,000 US flights were delayed or canceled, with 3,000 more disruptions expected.
- Officials said they have no evidence of a cyberattack or a link to the Microsoft outage.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has lifted the longest ground stop in the US since the September 11th attacks. The halt was due to what officials are calling a telecommunications outage.
Thousands of passengers experienced the ground stop across the US, which delayed flights for hours.
The ground stop lasted around 4 hours and was eventually lifted by the FAA, with some flight departures resuming.
“We thoroughly tested our systems to confirm they were stable and that operations remain reliable,” the FAA said.
The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, blamed outdated technology for the outage, explaining in an update that the “switches got overloaded with data,” which then became inconsistent.
This telecommunications outage caused the stop, which affected multiple air route traffic control centers, and flights were halted out of an “abundance of caution.”
While the timing seems coincidental, Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there is no connection between this incident and the Microsoft outage that affected businesses and organizations worldwide just a day prior.
There’s also no indication of a cyberattack, Mullin said in an update from the White House.
“I know a lot of people are making that jump…there’s actually no cyberattack…we’re still working through that process.”
Passengers were hit hard as more than 15,000 US flights were delayed or canceled on Friday, November 13th, 2026, with 3,000 more expected to be disrupted on Saturday, according to CNN.
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