American Airlines warned that its flight schedule could remain disrupted after the FAA temporarily halted departures nationwide on Friday, Nov. 13. (Foto: Instagram)
American Airlines said Friday, Nov. 13, that its flight schedule would likely remain disrupted for the rest of the day after the Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted departures across the United States. The airline said the extent of the changes would depend on how long the FAA’s nationwide ground stop remained in effect.
The FAA ordered the suspension Friday afternoon, citing safety concerns and extraordinary circumstances. In a statement, American Airlines said flights already in the air could continue to their destinations, while warning that its schedule could change for the remainder of the day.
Earlier, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a communications problem affecting all of the country’s air traffic control centers had prompted the nationwide suspension. Later, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there was no indication the United States had suffered a cyberattack.
Mullin told reporters at the White House that officials had no reason to believe the incident posed a threat to the country. He described it as a telecommunications failure and said there was no evidence at that point that it was a hostile attack or another event like the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The previous nationwide halt to U.S. departures occurred in January 2023, after a failure in the system used to send notices to pilots. Before that, such a suspension had been imposed following the Sept. 11 attacks.
About 3,100 aircraft were in the air awaiting permission to land as U.S. air traffic was disrupted, according to Flight Radar. Flights arriving from abroad were not automatically covered by the restriction. The FAA said it would assess each operation individually based on safety conditions.
