FAA telecommunications gap: US skies empty, shock wave hits Europe

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the cessation of all departures to U.S. airports on Friday, 13 November, following an air traffic control telecommunications breakdown [S1][S2][S4]. Aircraft already in flight have been allowed to reach their destination [S1]. The New York Times dedicated its evening briefing to this national capital [S3].

What we know about the breakdown

The FAA claims to have acted "because of exceptional circumstances and security reasons" invoking a temporary telecommunications breakdown [S2]. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy stated on X that the problem affected all regional air traffic control centres and that FAA technicians were investigating [S2]. "All traffic at departure must remain on the ground until further notice," the agency said, without setting a time for recovery [S2].

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin assured the White House that "no indication" suggested a malicious attack: "This is a telecommunications breakdown," he said [S2]. According to RFI, however, he refused to rule out any hypothesis, including that of a cyber attack, while saying that it was "not a new 11-September" [S6]. The company behind SMART, a controller support system based on artificial intelligence built into FAA systems three days earlier, denied X being the cause of the failure, reports Radio-Canada [S5].

Thousands of flights affected

According to Deutsche Welle, FlightAware had more than 3500 cancelled flights and more than 10,000 delayed flights; Cirium expected further cancellations, with approximately 11,000 departures still scheduled after 4 p.m. local time [S2]. Middle East Eye quotes Flightradar24: barely 1,000 flights were heading to the United States, almost 80% less than a week earlier [S1]. JetBlue reported delays at departure, Air Canada warned that its connections with the Caribbean and South America could be disrupted, and the British Civil Aviation Authority called on travellers to inquire about the airlines [S1].

The effects crossed the Atlantic: Eurocontrol suspended all departures to the United States from its 42 Member States at the request of the FAA [S2]. In Canada, NAV Canada has implemented traffic management measures in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver [S2].

A rare precedent

This is the first national immobilization since January 2023, when an FAA computer failure had paralyzed traffic; the previous one dates back to the attacks of 11 September 2001 [S1][S2]. RFI notes that the suspension comes the same day that the White House asked Congress for an additional $30.1 billion to modernize air traffic control, some of which dates back to the 1960s [S6]. Two communications breakdowns had already disrupted Newark Airport in 2025, and the area also suffers from a lack of personnel [S6].

What remains to be established

The exact cause of the breakdown, its duration and time of resumption of flights were not known at the time of this information [S2][S4]. The available sources do not yet indicate whether the problem is due to hardware, software or some other factor.