FAA ground stop aftermath cancels thousands of Saturday flights: What to know
White House gives update on ground stop
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy briefed reporters after the FAA lifted its nationwide ground stop at 8:25 p.m. ET. The restriction lasted more than four hours, and flight departures were cleared to resume. Officials said there was no indication of a cyberattack and that federal agencies were working together to assist affected travelers.
A nationwide FAA ground stop is over, but the ripple effects continue Saturday as airlines and airports recover from the longest flight stoppage in 25 years.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned Americans traveling that getting air traffic back to normal won't be quick. Here’s what to know:
Saturday flights canceled
By the numbers:
More than 2,500 flights were canceled in the U.S. on Saturday and hundreds more were delayed, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions.
An airport departures board displaying multiple flights marked as canceled is seen in Krakow, Poland, on November 14, 2026. The cancellations follow a nationwide flight ground stop ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after a communic
That’s on top of more than 9,000 canceled flights and 7,000 delayed flights on Friday.
Why was the FAA ground stop issued?
The backstory:
At a press conference Friday night, the Trump administration said new technology being added to the nation’s air traffic control system overloaded older equipment.
No indication ground stop was related to cyberattack, DHS says
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said Friday that there is no indication the FAA's communications failure that caused an hours-long nationwide ground stop was related to a cyberattack. LiveNOW's Alexandra Goldberg has more.
The overload caused "intermittent" communications and radar gaps, which led to the ground stop.
What they're saying:
"We didn’t think we would have this kind of outage. We did," Duffy said.
The air traffic control upgrades began last year after Congress approved $12.5 billion of funding. Duffy and the White House are now pushing for $30 billion more to complete the work.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said there is no indication the failure was related to a cyberattack.
"There was never any lives at risk," Mullin added. "There was no flights at risk. FAA was able to handle it. We did it."
The ground stop was enacted "out of an abundance of caution," he said.
It ended around 8:15 p.m. ET Friday.
Will passengers get refunds?
What you can do:
Airlines are obligated to offer free rebooking on another flight for travelers who want to continue their journey, or a refund if their flight was canceled and they decide not to take the trip.
Delta and United announced they were offering travel waivers.
MORE: Airlines issue travel waivers during national ground stop
Passengers should contact their airlines for information about their flights and any potential compensation, the FAA said.
Dig deeper:
A new rule that went into effect last month could make it harder for airline customers to get compensated.
Effective Oct. 19, the Department of Transportation removed 10 events from being considered "within an airline's control," removing the ability for flyers to be compensated.
RELATED: Nationwide ground stop: How new DOT rule could affect compensation for flight delays
Among the 10 events are "government system failures," or unexpected shutdowns or technical failures of government systems that directly impact safe flight operations.
What about Thanksgiving travel?
What's next:
Duffy suggested more disruptions might occur in coming days, but officials say the system is likely to be operating normally in time to handle the Thanksgiving travel rush.
The Source: This article includes information from The Associated Press, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and previous FOX Local reporting.