After the major technical and communication crisis in America's aviation sector (Air Traffic Control Communications Outage), relief news has emerged for millions of air passengers. US aviation regulator Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially lifted the nationwide 'Ground Stop' order that was in place for about three and a half hours and has restored departures from airports across the country. On Friday afternoon (early Saturday morning Indian time), there was an immediate halt to take-offs of planes across the US due to a communication glitch in the regional centers of air traffic control, due to which thousands of flights were canceled or delayed and passengers had to face huge chaos at many major airports including Denver International Airport. Why were flights stopped in America? The government rejected the fear of cyber attack. Explaining the reasons for this unprecedented aviation crisis, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin clarified the situation during a press briefing at the White House. The Transportation Secretary said the problem was caused by overloaded routers and aging hardware equipment and a telecommunications failure between air traffic control regional centers, which began in the Chicago Midway area and spread across the country. At the same time, the Homeland Security Secretary said in clear words that no evidence of any kind of cyber attack or foreign conspiracy has been found behind this incident. It is noteworthy that this was the first time after January 2023 that due to some technical fault in America, flights of the entire country had to be stopped on the ground simultaneously. Denver International Airport and Chicago O'Hare were hardest hit. Planes in the air were allowed to land safely during the nationwide shutdown, but hundreds of flights had to be diverted to nearby airports. According to data from aviation analytics firms Cirium and FlightAware, the crisis caused delays to more than 10,000 flights and forced the cancellation of more than 4,200 flights. The greatest pressure was seen at Denver International Airport (DEN) and Chicago O'Hare (ORD)—where 28 diverted planes landed in Chicago and 26 in Denver. At Denver Airport, thousands of passengers from several airlines, including United Airlines and Delta Airlines, were stranded in the terminal for hours and the entire flight schedule was disrupted. Key figures related to the US aviation crisis and restoration Key points at a glance (Crisis Parameter) Official details and figures (13-14 November 2026) The main reason for the crisis was the failure of the router and communication system in the Regional Air Traffic Control (ATC) Duration of the ground stop was approximately 3.5 hours (services restored from 8:15 pm US Eastern Time) Number of flights affected More than 10,079 flights were delayed across the country and 4,238 flights canceled Most affected airports Denver International Airport, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas Fort Worth and New York (JFK) Investigation status of cyber attack US administration clearly denies cyber attack or AI glitch What is the latest situation for flights and passengers going from India to America? Even though the FAA has reopened US airspace and United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have resumed flights, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that the backlog of thousands of halted flights could take another 24 to 48 hours to fully return to normal. Its impact is also on the turnaround time of international flights from India to America including Air India. In such a situation, passengers who have scheduled travel to any city in America today or tomorrow have been advised to check the live flight status on their respective airline's website or mobile app before leaving for the airport.
