{
  "id": 19882742,
  "title": "All departing US flights grounded due to communication problem",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/all-departing-us-flights-grounded-due-to-communication-problem-19882742",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-13T22:17:38.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Malaysia Today",
    "slug": "free-malaysia-today-freemalays",
    "url": "https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/highlight/2026/11/14/all-departing-us-flights-grounded-due-to-communication-problem"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights from US airports due to a communication issue affecting air traffic control towers. This unprecedented move, the first of its kind in recent history, left travelers in confusion as they awaited updates on flight cancellations.\n\nThe Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the ground stop following a communication problem impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, stating that technicians were investigating the issue at the time. Such systemwide groundings are rare, with previous nationwide stoppages, like the one in January 2023, lasting only a few hours and caused by problems with the Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) system.\n\nThe call for the latest ground stop came just a day after US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy formally requested $30.1 billion from Congress to modernize the US air traffic control system. In a letter to lawmakers, Duffy and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought emphasized the importance of this investment for completing the modernization of the national airspace, including the installation of a resilient telecommunications backbone, modern hardware and software, advanced control towers, and state-of-the-art airport infrastructure.\n\nAt Las Vegas airport, Southwest Airlines check-in desk informed passengers that there would be no flights taking off for 24 hours, illustrating the immediate impact of the FAA's decision on air travel across the nation.",
  "summary": "The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted all flight departures across the US for 24 hours following a communications failure affecting all air traffic control centres.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 5,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Le Monde English",
        "title": "All flights across US grounded due to air traffic control communications problems",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/all-flights-across-us-grounded-due-to-air-traffic-control",
        "published": "2026-11-13T21:40:45.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Ajel English",
        "title": "All US flights grounded after communications system failure",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/all-us-flights-grounded-after-communications-system-failure",
        "published": "2026-11-13T21:55:34.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News AU",
        "title": "Live: All US departing flights grounded due to communication issues",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/live-all-us-departing-flights-grounded-due-to-communication-issues",
        "published": "2026-11-13T22:12:24.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Channel News Asia",
        "title": "All departing US flights grounded due to communication problem",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/all-departing-us-flights-grounded-due-to-communication-problem",
        "published": "2026-11-13T22:21:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}