Sean Duffy

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop at 8:15 pm ET on 13 Nov 2026, after almost five hours in which nearly all departing flights in the United States were held. Officials said an outage in a network carrying radio frequencies used by air traffic controllers, affecting multiple control centres, caused the halt. More than 3,500 aircraft were airborne when the stop was imposed, and all landed safely, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Reports differ on the flight totals: one put cancellations at nearly 10,000 with over 7,000 delays, while a later report cited over 3,700 cancellations and about 2,000 delays on 14 Nov. Travellers faced long queues, and the disruption came less than two weeks before Thanksgiving.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted a nationwide ground stop on departing flights on Friday evening, 13 Nov, after more than four hours, ending at about 20:15 Eastern Time. Officials said more than 2,000 flights were cancelled during the halt, with later counts rising to nearly 7,500 cancellations and over 10,000 delays. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed outdated communications equipment overloaded with data at air traffic control centres. The stop was the second nationwide ground halt since the 11 Sep 2001 attacks.

The US Federal Aviation Administration will replace its legacy floppy-disk systems with a new Enterprise Information Display System at more than 400 air-traffic control facilities, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced. The system will combine weather alerts, equipment outages, airspace changes and pilot reports on one digital dashboard. Upgrades have started at five sites, including Atlantic City, Nashville, Rochester, Atlanta and Salt Lake City, with completion targeted at 435 facilities by the end of 2028. Congress approved $12.5 billion last year to modernise the system.

A Learjet 60 crashed into a neighbourhood in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Sunday 1 Nov, killing all nine people on board, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. The crash occurred at about 12:50 p.m. local time near Military Trail and 10th Avenue North, less than 11 km from President Donald J. Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. The jet had taken off from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas and was bound for the Bahamas, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. Storms were reported in the area at the time, and about 600 residents were evacuated to shelters, according to a county commissioner.