British travellers have been warned to expect disruption after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop, halting all flights across the United States for several hours on Friday. The suspension followed communications failures at regional air traffic control centres.
The FAA halted all flights "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety." British Airways cancelled a flight to New York scheduled to depart from London Heathrow at 10.30pm on Friday. The airline apologised to customers on X for potential delays and cancellations, advising passengers to proceed to the airport as planned unless notified otherwise.
Airlines respond to grounding
A British Airways spokesperson said: "Our flights departing the United States may be delayed due to the ongoing air traffic control issue. Customers are advised to travel to the airport as planned so we can try to depart our aircraft as quickly as possible. This is entirely outside of our control and our teams are working hard to minimise any disruption to our customers."
Manchester Airport reported no "significant" delays expected. A spokesman said: "We're due to have three flights to the US today. They're all in the air and en route here with slight delays – but nothing significant. The three flights are to New York, Orlando and Atlanta – all operated by Virgin Atlantic. Our advice to passengers is simply to keep an eye out for any updates to their flight times but to plan to travel as usual."
Virgin Atlantic confirmed that a flight from London Heathrow to New York JFK, due to depart on Friday, was cancelled. A spokesperson said: "We're aware of the ground stop order issued by the Federal Aviation Administration for all US airports. We're closely monitoring the situation and assessing any impact to our flights. We advise any customers due to travel to check their flight status at virginatlantic.com."
Impact across UK airports
Aer Lingus said flights en route to the US would be permitted to land, while departures from the US were on hold. A spokesperson added: "We are continuing to monitor the situation closely and will communicate directly with customers who are impacted by the disruption. Customers should continue to check aerlingus.com for the latest updates."
Disruption at London Gatwick Airport was expected to remain minimal. London Heathrow's website indicated that most Saturday morning departures were operating as planned, though an 8.20am service to Dallas Fort Worth had been cancelled, alongside a number of inbound flights from the US.
Ireland's Department of Transport urged all passengers travelling to the US to contact their airline for updates. In a statement, it said: "The Department of Transport has been advised that the US Federal Aviation Administration has on the evening of 13 Nov 2026 issued a nationwide ground stop for all US airports. We understand that some flights currently en route to the US are being permitted to land. The US authorities are handling international flights on a case by case basis. This is an evolving situation and the Department advises all passengers who are due to travel to the US on Saturday 14 November to check with their airline for information regarding the status of their flight."
Wider disruption and official response
Late on Friday evening, Eurocontrol announced that all US-bound air traffic departing from its member states had been halted. A statement on its website read: "To the attention of all Aircraft Operators: On request of FAA due to technical issues all traffic departing within IFPZ (Eurocontrol member states) between 2200 UTC on 13 NOV and 0500 UTC on 14 NOV, bound for US airports is suspended. For more information check ATCSCC Advisory. NMOC (Network Manager Operations Centre) is closely monitoring the situation and will provide updates accordingly."
Eurocontrol comprises 42 member states, including the UK, Ireland, Germany and France, along with two agreement states – Israel and Morocco. This marks only the second occasion flights have been grounded across the US since the September 11 terror attacks in 2001. The FAA brought flights to a halt in January 2023 due to a system error.
Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that the introduction of some new technology into an old air traffic control system had overwhelmed it. He could not rule out another outage, adding "it doesn't appear" that a cyber attack or rogue artificial intelligence played a role in the incident.
Transportation secretary Sean Duffy said he expected flights around the US to be "back up and operational as we come into the heat of travel" next weekend ahead of Thanksgiving, though he also hinted that further disruptions could not be discounted. "We didn't think we would have this kind of outage. We did," he said. "We were able to review what went wrong, and then reboot the system and go. But, you will have more of these."
