Flights across the United States began resuming on Saturday after a nationwide shutdown grounded aircraft for four hours due to communication problems at regional air traffic control centres. However, travellers continued to face delays and cancellations as airlines worked to bring operations back to normal.&nbsp;US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy assured passengers that flying was safe but warned that delays and cancellations would continue as airlines adjusted their schedules and moved aircraft and crew to different locations.&nbsp;"Operations are slowly returning to normal this morning. Planes are pushing back, taxiing, and taking off, and it is safe to fly," Duffy said on X on Saturday.&nbsp;He added that passengers should expect further disruptions as airlines worked to restore their services.&nbsp;“You will continue to see some delays and cancellations as carriers reschedule flights and reposition aircraft/crews where they are needed most.”&nbsp;According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, more than 20,000 flights were affected by the shutdown. By Saturday, over 3,900 flights had been cancelled and another 2,500 delayed across the US.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/why-did-the-faa-suddenly-ground-flights-across-the-us-officials-reveal-what-went-wrong-1794620777279">Why did the FAA suddenly ground flights across the US? Officials reveal what went wrong</a>&nbsp;<h3>What caused the US flight disruption?</h3>The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the nationwide ground stop on Friday after communication problems and irregularities in radar systems affected air traffic control centres across the country.&nbsp;The agency later lifted the restrictions, allowing flights to resume. Officials described the situation as involving "extraordinary circumstances".&nbsp;It was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a technical problem with an FAA computer system disrupted air travel. It was also only the second such shutdown since the September 11, 2001, attacks.&nbsp;Transportation Secretary Duffy said more than 3,500 aircraft were in the air when the FAA announced the ground stop on Friday. He said authorities safely brought the aircraft down using established procedures.&nbsp;"We had over 3,500 aeroplanes in the air. They all engaged, and last time I looked, we had less than 400 in the airspace as they were all coming in to safely land. And we navigated it with our well-known procedures that that we have when these incidents happen," he said.&nbsp;Explaining the decision to ground flights, Duffy said authorities had noticed problems with radar data and communication with aircraft.&nbsp;He said outdated air traffic control technology and routers overloaded with data were responsible for the nationwide ground stop. “What we have is an incredibly old air traffic control system,” Duffy said at a news conference.<h3>US lawmakers call for investigation</h3>The disruption has also raised concerns among US lawmakers, who have called for an investigation into the cause of the outage and the security of the country's aviation infrastructure.&nbsp;Republican Senator Eric Schmitt said the incident showed the need to upgrade the country's air traffic control systems and airport infrastructure.&nbsp;"No more kicking the can. If today proves anything, it's that we need to update our air traffic control system &amp; rebuild our airport infrastructure," he said on X.

Thousands of passengers remained stranded across the US as flights gradually resumed after a nationwide ground stop, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning that delays and cancellations would continue.

Flights across the United States began resuming on Saturday after a nationwide shutdown grounded aircraft for four hours due to communication problems at regional air traffic control centres. However, travellers continued to face delays and cancellations as airlines worked to bring operations back to normal. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy assured passengers that flying was safe but warned that delays and cancellations would continue as airlines adjusted their schedules and moved aircraft and crew to different locations. "Operations are slowly returning to normal this morning. Planes are pushing back, taxiing, and taking off, and it is safe to fly," Duffy said on X on Saturday. He added that passengers should expect further disruptions as airlines worked to restore their services. “You will continue to see some delays and cancellations as carriers reschedule flights and reposition aircraft/crews where they are needed most.” According to flight-tracking website FlightAware, more than 20,000 flights were affected by the shutdown. By Saturday, over 3,900 flights had been cancelled and another 2,500 delayed across the US. Also Read: Why did the FAA suddenly ground flights across the US? Officials reveal what went wrong What caused the US flight disruption? The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the nationwide ground stop on Friday after communication problems and irregularities in radar systems affected air traffic control centres across the country. The agency later lifted the restrictions, allowing flights to resume. Officials described the situation as involving "extraordinary circumstances". It was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when a technical problem with an FAA computer system disrupted air travel. It was also only the second such shutdown since the September 11, 2001, attacks. Transportation Secretary Duffy said more than 3,500 aircraft were in the air when the FAA announced the ground stop on Friday. He said authorities safely brought the aircraft down using established procedures. "We had over 3,500 aeroplanes in the air. They all engaged, and last time I looked, we had less than 400 in the airspace as they were all coming in to safely land. And we navigated it with our well-known procedures that that we have when these incidents happen," he said. Explaining the decision to ground flights, Duffy said authorities had noticed problems with radar data and communication with aircraft. He said outdated air traffic control technology and routers overloaded with data were responsible for the nationwide ground stop. “What we have is an incredibly old air traffic control system,” Duffy said at a news conference. US lawmakers call for investigation The disruption has also raised concerns among US lawmakers, who have called for an investigation into the cause of the outage and the security of the country's aviation infrastructure. Republican Senator Eric Schmitt said the incident showed the need to upgrade the country's air traffic control systems and airport infrastructure. "No more kicking the can. If today proves anything, it's that we need to update our air traffic control system & rebuild our airport infrastructure," he said on X.

Thousands of passengers remained stranded across the US as flights gradually resumed after a nationwide ground stop, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warning that delays and cancellations would continue.

US flight chaos: Transport chief warns 'some delays, cancellations' to continue as thousands stranded after flight disruption

Microsoft on Friday (Nov 14) said that the air traffic control failure in the US that grounded all departing flights was not linked to its own global outage. This comes after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a national ground stop “due to extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety.” According to flight tracker FlightAware, more than 10,000 flights were delayed, and over 6,600 were cancelled.“We have no indication that the FAA’s nationwide ground stop is related to any Microsoft services,” Microsoft said in a statement on X.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We have no indication that the FAA’s nationwide ground stop is related to any Microsoft services.&mdash; Microsoft On the Issues (@MSFTIssues) <a href="https://x.com/MSFTIssues/status/2121373421670203799?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<h2>Microsoft and FAA outages ‘separate issues’</h2>Microsoft 365 suffered a major nationwide outage starting Thursday (Nov 13). Several of its services, including Outlook, Teams, Copilot and Xbox Live, were down for users in 74 countries. After over 30 hours of Microsoft 365 disruptions, the company said in an update, “We have completed our efforts to address the underlying issue of the incident and restored service to the remaining impacted customers and regions.”Shortly before 4 pm ET on Friday (Nov 14), the FAA suffered a telecommunications outage. The two massive outages at the same time made people online try to connect them. However, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that the two were “separate issues”, adding that he did not see “any reason to connect those two at all.”<h2>What caused FAA ground stop?</h2>Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the FAA’s disruption was caused by its ageing network.“Our switches, our routers actually got overloaded with data,” he said at a White House briefing, describing a system that still runs on “1980s little copper lines.”The unexpected ground stop left around 1.5 million people stranded. Mulling said that there was “zero evidence” to suggest that the disruption was caused by a cyberattack. When asked whether AI had anything to do with it, he replied, “we call it SI around here,” using the administration’s preferred term for artificial intelligence.The FAA had activated SMART, an AI-based traffic planning tool developed by Air Space Intelligence, at all 22 centres just three days before the disruption. However, the company clarified on X that the ground stop “is not based on or a result of the SMART system.” Duffy dismissed any link, saying, “This is not even plugged in.”An update to its L3Harris-managed telecom network reportedly triggered a system crash at the FAA. Duffy is seeking $50 billion from Congress to overhaul air traffic control, warning that failures will continue without upgrades.Meanwhile, Microsoft has blamed its disruption on a flaw exposed by a recent network update, with estimated productivity losses nearing $7 billion.&nbsp;

Microsoft has denied links to the FAA outage that disrupted US flights, as officials blamed ageing infrastructure for grounding departures and disrupting thousands of journeys.

Microsoft on Friday (Nov 14) said that the air traffic control failure in the US that grounded all departing flights was not linked to its own global outage. This comes after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a national ground stop “due to extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety.” According to flight tracker FlightAware, more than 10,000 flights were delayed, and over 6,600 were cancelled. “We have no indication that the FAA’s nationwide ground stop is related to any Microsoft services,” Microsoft said in a statement on X.

Microsoft has denied links to the FAA outage that disrupted US flights, as officials blamed ageing infrastructure for grounding departures and disrupting thousands of journeys.

Was Microsoft behind US flight chaos? Company responds after FAA ground stop disrupts over 16,000 flights

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US flight chaos: Transport chief warns 'some delays, cancellations' to continue as thousands stranded after flight disruption

Was Microsoft behind US flight chaos? Company responds after FAA ground stop