Possible disruption expected for UK travellers after flights grounded across US

British travellers have been warned to brace for possible disruption after flights were grounded across the United States.

The US’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all flights nationwide for several hours on Friday “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety” following communications problems at regional air traffic control centres.

Responding to customers on X, British Airways apologised for possible delays and cancellations.

It also recommended passengers travel to the airport as planned to arrive for the original departure time, unless informed otherwise.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “Our flights departing the United States may be delayed due to the ongoing air traffic control issue.

“Customers are advised to travel to the airport as planned so we can try to depart our aircraft as quickly as possible.

Flights were grounded over the communication problem (AP)

AP

“This is entirely outside of our control and our teams are working hard to minimise any disruption to our customers.”

A spokesman for Manchester Airport said there is not expected to be any “significant” delays after flights were grounded across the US for several hours on Friday.

He said in a statement: “We’re due to have three flights to the US today. They’re all in the air and en route here with slight delays – but nothing significant.

“The three flights are to New York, Orlando and Atlanta – all operated by Virgin Atlantic. Our advice to passengers is simply to keep an eye out for any updates to their flight times but to plan to travel as usual.”

Virgin Atlantic said a flight from London Heathrow to New York JFK that was scheduled to leave on Friday had been cancelled.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: “We’re aware of the ground stop order issued by the Federal Aviation Administration for all US airports.

“We’re closely monitoring the situation and assessing any impact to our flights. We advise any customers due to travel to check their flight status at virginatlantic.com.”

A spokesperson for Aer Lingus said: “Aer Lingus flights en route to the US will be permitted to land, and Aer Lingus flights due to depart the US are currently on hold.”

(AP)

AP

The spokesperson added: “We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and will communicate directly with customers who are impacted by the disruption.

“Customers should continue to check aerlingus.com for the latest updates.”

It is understood the situation is expected to have minimal impact on London Gatwick Airport.

London Heathrow’s website said most of its flights scheduled to depart on Saturday morning were running on schedule, however an 8.20am flight to Dallas Fort Worth had been cancelled, along with a number of incoming flights from the US.

Ireland’s Department of Transport advised all US-bound passengers to check with their airline for updates.

It said in a statement: “The Department of Transport has been advised that the US Federal Aviation Administration has on the evening of 13 Nov 2026 issued a nationwide ground stop for all US airports.

“We understand that some flights currently en route to the US are being permitted to land. The US authorities are handling international flights on a case by case basis.

“This is an evolving situation and the Department advises all passengers who are due to travel to the US on Saturday 14 November to check with their airline for information regarding the status of their flight.”

Late on Friday, Eurocontrol said all US-bound air traffic from its member states had been suspended amid the disruption in the US.

A statement on the organisation’s website said: “To the attention of all Aircraft Operators: On request of FAA due to technical issues all traffic departing within IFPZ (Eurocontrol member states) between 2200 UTC on 13 NOV and 0500 UTC on 14 NOV, bound for US airports is suspended.

Passengers faced disruption after the incident (AP)

AP

“For more information check ATCSCC Advisory.

“NMOC (Network Manager Operations Centre) is closely monitoring the situation and will provide updates accordingly.”

Eurocontrol has 42 member states, including the UK, Ireland, Germany and France, as well as two agreement states – Israel and Morocco.

It is only the second time flights have been grounded across the US since the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.

Flights were halted by the FAA in January 2023 because of a system error.

Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that the introduction of some new technology into an old air traffic control system overwhelmed it. He could not rule out another outage.

Mr Mullin added “it doesn’t appear” that a cyber attack or rogue artificial intelligence played a role in the incident.

Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said he expected flights around the US to be “back up and operational as we come into the heat of travel” next weekend ahead of Thanksgiving, but he also suggested more disruptions might occur.

“We didn’t think we would have this kind of outage. We did,” he said.

“We were able to review what went wrong, and then reboot the system and go. But, you will have more of these.”