All departing U.S. flights grounded due to communication outage

The curbside arrivals area for JetBlue and other airlines at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport during a nationwide flight stop, in Arlington, Virginia, on Friday. | Alex Kent / The New York Times

AFP-Jiji

Nov 14, 2026

New York – U.S. aviation regulators issued an extremely rare ground stop of all flights across the country Friday after a major communications outage that the Department of Homeland Security said did not appear to be the result of any “nefarious attack.”

The halt triggered immediate chaos and confusion for travelers, with departure boards at many airports showing flights were operating normally, even as customers were unable to board planes.

The Federal Aviation Administration “issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” the agency said. “FAA technicians are investigating the issue.”

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