The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide halt to departing flights Friday afternoon after communications problems affected multiple air traffic control centers, bringing the disruption to airports across the country, including Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field.
“The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following communication issues impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers,” the agency said in a statement.
“FAA technicians are investigating the issue.”
A ground stop holds aircraft at their departure airports. The FAA said it would manage inbound international flights on a case-by-case basis. Its initial statement did not identify the underlying cause of the communications problems or provide a confirmed time for departures to resume.
Travelers should check directly with their airlines for flight-specific updates. The FAA also maintains a National Airspace System dashboard with airport delays and operational restrictions.
FAA promotes technology upgrades
Earlier Friday, the FAA promoted a switch from paper to electronic flight strips at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. “Say goodbye to paper!” the agency wrote on X, saying controllers were switching from “antiquated paper strips” to electronic versions for “safe and efficient operations.”
Say goodbye to paper! @CVGAirport controllers are switching from antiquated paper strips to electronic flight strips for safe and efficient operations. @USDOT
Get more from @Local12 ⬇️ https://t.co/R9MK6nMvGq
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) November 13, 2026
The disruption comes three days after the FAA announced plans to expand its artificial intelligence-supported SMART traffic management system to airspace served by all 22 en route centers. The agency’s initial ground-stop statement did not link Friday’s communications problems to SMART.
The Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories system combines approximately 200 data streams, including weather, flight paths, traffic flow and controller staffing information. FAA specialists review its data and send scheduling recommendations through the agency’s command center for local air traffic control leadership to consider.
An FAA fact sheet describes SMART as a planning layer that works alongside existing systems. Controllers retain responsibility for keeping aircraft safely separated.
Lawmakers had urged the FAA in an October 9 letter to pause SMART’s initial deployment around Washington until the agency answered questions about safety testing, personnel training and oversight. Their questions included how the system performs during outages and what standards it must meet before nationwide expansion.
Nationwide ground stops are rare
Nationwide ground stops are rare. On January 11, 2023, the FAA paused domestic departures after its Notice to Air Missions system, which supplies safety information to flight crews, suffered an outage. That disruption triggered delays and cancellations across major airlines, including American and Southwest, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
This is a developing story.
