Key developments

What we know so far about the US aviation blackout

Thousands of flights across the United States have been grounded on the orders of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

• More than 10,200 flights have been delayed and over 5,100 cancelled, including flights scheduled for Saturday.
• The problem is not linked to a cyberattack or an AI malfunction, Donald Trump told FOX.
• Around 1.5 million passengers had been scheduled to travel on Friday afternoon and evening.
• The disruption could last for a considerable time and affect flights even around Thanksgiving, on 26 November.
• According to the US Secretary of Homeland Security, initial indications point to a telecommunications problem. He said there was no indication of a threat to the country.
• Trump says the incident is neither a cyberattack nor an issue involving artificial intelligence.
• A Microsoft spokesperson said the aviation shutdown was not connected to problems with the company’s own systems.
• One possibility being investigated is that the problem was triggered by a software update.
• A new air traffic management system using artificial intelligence was brought into operation last week. It began operating at the 22 regional air traffic control centres across the United States on 10 November, following a pilot programme in the Washington area in September. The FAA has clarified that the system has a supporting role.
• A second scenario reported by CNN is that the FAA told airlines that the outages which led to the nationwide suspension of departures were caused by a problem with network routers, according to an airline industry source.

The problem is believed to have started at Chicago Midway International Airport before spreading across the country.

• Flights in Canada are operating normally.
• There is no disruption in Europe. However, flights from Europe to the United States have been suspended at the FAA’s request to prevent further pressure on US airports.

Watch here:

14 November 2026, 01:55

updates:

Images from US airports: Thousands of travellers left stranded

More than 15% of scheduled US departures were cancelled or failed to take off, while Canada offered to accommodate American aircraft forced to change course.

Aviation blackout statistics: Thousands of flights cancelled, how many were diverted?

A total of 26,284 departures from US airports had been scheduled for today. More than 15% of those flights were cancelled or did not take off, according to Cirium, an aviation data analytics company.

At least 827 flights were diverted today. Of these, 670 returned to their airports of origin, while the remaining aircraft were redirected to other airports, according to Cirium data.

Most of the flights diverted to other airports landed at Chicago O’Hare, Charlotte, Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, Cirium said.

Cirium classifies flights as “no-fly” if they have not taken off within 180 minutes of their scheduled departure time. “We expect this number to increase throughout the day,” the company said.

14 November 2026, 03:14

Trump on US aviation blackout: No sign of cyberattack, outdated FAA systems to blame

US President Donald Trump is turning attention to the ageing state of America’s air traffic control systems following the unprecedented nationwide suspension of departures caused by a widespread telecommunications failure at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

According to Fox News, the US president said that, based on the information available so far, the incident does not appear to be linked to a cyberattack, leaving open the possibility that its cause lies in outdated technological infrastructure which his administration is seeking to modernise.

Trump’s comments come as the relevant authorities continue to investigate the failure, which affected all 22 regional air traffic control centres across the United States.

The president’s remarks are in line with the initial assessments of the Department of Homeland Security, which has said there is so far no indication of malicious activity or sabotage.

The possibility of a technical failure involving ageing systems takes on particular significance in light of repeated warnings from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). According to a September 2026 report, of the FAA’s 138 air traffic control systems, 51 have been classified as unsustainable and a further 54 as potentially unsustainable.

As recently as 5 November, the US Department of Transportation announced a new phase of modernisation, involving the replacement of outdated data storage systems and equipment dating back as far as the 1980s.

14 November 2026, 03:13

Canada offers to accommodate US aircraft forced to divert

Canada has offered to accommodate American aircraft that had to change their destinations because of the suspension of departures across the United States, the country’s Transport Minister said in a social media post.

Meanwhile, the disruption is also being felt at Canadian airports. No departures were taking place from Ontario International Airport, while flights from Ottawa to the United States were “affected until further notice”.

Vancouver International Airport announced that delays and cancellations had also been recorded on domestic flights, in addition to international services passing through US airspace.

Watch the video: US airspace empties as flights are grounded

Airspace clearing above the United States tonight as flights land, but cannot take off, as the FAA’s nationwide ground stop continues. Ground stop was issued at 20:54 UTC. https://t.co/SMqTEedBOY

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) November 14, 2026

🚨 📊 USA TODAY VS. LAST WEEK — SAME TIME— 00:30 UTC 🇺🇸 More than 5,100 flights have been canceled across the United States, and disruptions are continuing to escalate nationwide. 📍 Airports reporting the most cancellations: 🔴 Chicago O’Hare (ORD): 461 🔴 Atlanta (ATL): 310 🔴 New York LaGuardia (LGA): 305 🔴 Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW): 297 🔴 Denver (DEN): 246 🔴 New York JFK: 220 🔴 Boston (BOS): 213 🔴 San Francisco (SFO): 199 🔴 Los Angeles (LAX): 190 🔴 Washington Dulles (IAD): 147 🔴 Seattle (SEA): 143 🔴 Newark (EWR): 138 Watch our AirNav Radar comparison showing US air traffic today versus the same time last week, highlighting the impact of the nationwide disruption on flight operations.

— AirNav Radar (@AirNavRadar) November 14, 2026

Stranded passengers face soaring hotel prices as US aviation blackout disrupts thousands of flights

Travellers stuck at major US airports are struggling to retrieve their luggage or find accommodation, with some two-star hotel rooms reportedly costing up to $1,000 a night.

At some of the largest airports in the United States, including those in New York, widespread flight cancellations have become the norm, creating a major problem for passengers trying to work out what to do next.

Those who are not from the area and have become stranded inside airport terminals are finding it impossible to retrieve their luggage or even book a hotel room independently, with prices on booking platforms having soared to as much as $1,000 for a single night in a two-star hotel.

14 November 2026, 02:25

Why authorities believe the incident was not an attack

A coordinated response involving “the entire government apparatus”, with the participation of multiple law enforcement and intelligence agencies, has so far found no evidence of an attack in the incident that disrupted air traffic across the United States on Friday, a senior US security official told CNN.

Authorities continue to believe that the incident was caused by a problem with communications software rather than deliberate action, according to the same source, while cybersecurity specialists across the country are continuing their investigation.

US law enforcement and intelligence agencies began receiving internal briefings from civil aviation officials about the problem on Friday, at around the same time as the first alerts appeared on screens at the agencies’ 24-hour operations centres at their headquarters.

The developments immediately prompted the involvement of officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency (NSA), which coordinates the response to foreign cyber threats.

“There continues to be no indication that this was an attack,” the source said late on Friday. The official added that, as part of the joint investigation, agencies were “looking closely” at the ways in which the US civil aviation system is connected to networks that could potentially be accessed by malicious actors.

According to the source, US security agencies are expected to continue searching “at full intensity” over the coming days for a possible “point of attack”, as cyber threats are sometimes ultimately traced to deeper layers of computer networks.

14 November 2026, 02:18

Flights to Hawaii and Alaska depart

14 November 2026, 02:16

NORAD: Flight disruption not caused by malicious activity

A spokesperson for US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said there was so far no indication that the telecommunications outage had been caused by malicious activity, either from within the United States or abroad.

14 November 2026, 02:15

Flights from Mexico to the US suspended

Mexico’s civil aviation authority announced that all flights bound for the United States had been asked to remain on the ground until the US authorities authorised the resumption of air traffic.

14 November 2026, 02:15

CBS: SMART artificial intelligence system not responsible

CBS reports that the SMART artificial intelligence system was not involved in Friday’s incident, as it is not connected to the telecommunications network used for communications between aircraft and control towers.

The possibility that the disruption was caused by a malfunction during a system upgrade is becoming increasingly likely, once again bringing the spotlight on L3Harris Technologies, the company responsible for modernising the FAA’s telecommunications systems.

14 November 2026, 02:14

WSJ: More than 3,300 flights cancelled and 10,200 delayed

More than 13,000 flights were cancelled or delayed across the United States on Friday after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended departures nationwide because of a communications outage affecting air traffic control, The Wall Street Journal reports.

More than 3,300 flights were cancelled and 10,200 delayed, with disruption expected to continue over the weekend.

14 November 2026, 02:12

Canada lifts air traffic restrictions

NAV CANADA has announced the lifting of air traffic management restrictions imposed earlier at the country’s major airports, amid the severe disruption caused by the nationwide suspension of departures in the United States.

According to the Canadian agency’s latest announcement, the restrictions were lifted shortly after 6pm on Friday, US Eastern Time, or shortly after 1am on Saturday, Greek time.

“Our systems are operating normally,” NAV CANADA said, confirming that its own air traffic control infrastructure was not experiencing technical problems.

Despite the lifting of the restrictions, the agency is urging passengers travelling to or from the United States to continue checking the status of their flights directly with their airlines.