Travel: United States
Key Facts
—As of. Friday 13 November, 6:38 p.m. Eastern Time (ET), 23:38 UTC. We update this page as official statements arrive.
—What. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the US air traffic regulator, halted all departing flights nationwide.
—When. The halt was announced on Friday afternoon, “for reasons of safety,” the FAA said.
—Cause. Officials cite a communications problem at air traffic control centres. The full cause is not confirmed.
—Prediction markets. Traders on Polymarket, a US prediction market, put 30.5% on the halt ending by 10 p.m. ET Friday (6:37 p.m. ET).
Every plane waiting to leave a US airport on Friday evening was told to stay on the ground, a measure called a ground stop. The order came from the Federal Aviation Administration, and no end time had been announced when we published.
Why It Matters
The United States runs the busiest airspace in the world, and a nationwide stop on departures strands travellers on every route at once. Passengers heading to or from Latin America and Africa through US hubs such as Miami, Houston, Atlanta and New York are caught in the same queue.
The FAA said the order was issued “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.” The order said all airports were ground stopped and that all departing traffic should stay on the ground until further notice.
What Officials Have Said
In a post on X, the FAA said inbound international flights would be handled case by case. Markwayne Mullin, the Homeland Security Secretary, told reporters outside the White House that “out of an abundance of caution, we have grounded all the flights” and that all flights were accounted for.
Sean Duffy, the US Transportation Secretary, said in a social media post that the stop followed a communication issue affecting all of the FAA’s Air Route Traffic Control Centers, the facilities that guide planes between airports. He added that FAA technicians were investigating and that updates would follow.
Mullin said there was “no indication, as of yet, that this was a nefarious act against us” and called it “a telecommunication outage throughout FAA.” He said agencies were working together and that nothing was ruled out.
“There is no indication, we had no reason to believe, that as of right now, that this was a threat to the United States.” Markwayne Mullin, Homeland Security Secretary, Friday 13 November
What Prediction Markets Say
Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction market, lists a contract on when the nationwide stop will be lifted, with about US$364,000 traded when we checked at 6:37 p.m. ET. It priced a 30.5% chance of a lift by 10 p.m. ET Friday, 50.5% by midnight, 78.5% by 6 a.m. Saturday and 93.6% by midnight at the end of Saturday 14 November.
Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.
In Plain English
Ground stop: an order that keeps planes from taking off. Planes already in the air keep flying and land.
Air Route Traffic Control Centers: FAA facilities that guide planes between airports, away from the runway.
Case by case: the FAA decides each incoming international flight separately.
What It Means for You
Each airline sets its own rebooking and refund terms for delays. The US Department of Transportation publishes air passenger rules at transportation.gov.
The FAA said inbound international flights, including those from Latin America, would be handled case by case rather than refused. Arrivals from Latin America are therefore treated flight by flight.
What To Watch Next
No official checkpoint has been announced. Duffy said updates would follow, so the next FAA statement is the one to read, and our Travel desk will update this page.
The FAA’s public status feed at nasstatus.faa.gov showed only airport level delays at 6:36 p.m. ET (23:36 UTC), with no nationwide stop listed. It does not say the stop was lifted, so we treat it as unconfirmed; see our Latin America coverage for regional effects.
What Is Not Known
The cause is not confirmed: the FAA cites a telecommunications outage, and Mullin said he was not ruling anything out. The number of flights delayed or cancelled, the length of the stop and the time it will end have not been published by the FAA.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the FAA order?
It ordered all departing flights in the United States to stay on the ground until further notice. International arrivals are handled case by case.
Is it a security attack?
Mullin said there was no indication of anything nefarious as of Friday afternoon. He did not rule out other causes.
Are planes in the air at risk?
The FAA said every flight had been accounted for. It has not said more about planes already in the air.
When will flights resume?
No time has been announced. Duffy said updates would follow from the FAA.
Sources: FAA public statements of 13 November 2026; FAA National Airspace System status (nasstatus.faa.gov); statements of Transportation Secretary Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Mullin; Polymarket contract data.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. The Rio Times also runs Ask Rio Times, which answers from 100,000+ of our own articles, the daily Latin America Power Map, and prediction-market odds on elections and markets.. How we use AI · Report an error