The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a rare nationwide ground stop on Friday afternoon, November 13, halting all departing flights at every US airport for more than four hours. The order came shortly after 4 PM ET, about 20 minutes before Shabbat candle lighting in New York.
Roughly 9,200 flights were canceled on Friday and another 7,500 were delayed, according to FlightAware. It was the longest nationwide halt to air travel since September 11, 2001. Shabbat-observant travelers still in airports when the order came down had no way to keep moving once Shabbat began, leaving many stuck far from home until Saturday night and pushing rebookings into an already jammed weekend.
What Caused the Shutdown
The FAA said it ordered the stop “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety” after radio and radar outages hit multiple air traffic control centers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the failure was traced to at least one router installed by FAA contractor L3Harris during routine maintenance replacing legacy copper wiring with fiber. The router flooded the network with more than 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds, disrupting communications at 17 of the FAA’s 22 en route centers.
The outage prompted an emergency White House Situation Room meeting on Friday as agencies checked whether it was a cyberattack. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said Saturday that investigators see “zero evidence of anything nefarious.” It is still not clear whether the router was faulty or installed incorrectly, and L3Harris said it is supporting the investigation.
Where Things Stand Now
The ground stop was lifted at 8:15 PM ET on Friday, but the disruption kept growing. More than 6,150 US flights were canceled and more than 7,300 were delayed on Saturday, and more than 530 Sunday flights were already canceled by Saturday evening. JetBlue canceled nearly 45% of its Saturday schedule, while Delta, United and American each canceled about a quarter of theirs.
Bedford said he expects airline operations to largely return to normal by late Sunday. Duffy called the situation an emergency and raised his request for air traffic control modernization funding to $50 billion.
What Travelers Should Know
Delta has issued a systemwide travel waiver covering November 13 through 15 travel on tickets issued by November 14: changes at no extra cost, fare differences waived when rebooked travel departs by November 22 in the same cabin, or cancellation for an eCredit. United’s travel waiver lets customers change their weekend travel plans. Anyone flying Sunday or Monday should check flight status before leaving for the airport and expect crowded planes as airlines work through the backlog.
Guides to kosher meals at New York airports (JFK, EWR, LGA) and kosher grab-and-go at South Florida airports (MIA, FLL, DJT) cover what is available past security for travelers stuck longer than planned.
Find kosher food near you on the YeahThatsKosherNearMe app: YeahThatsKosher.com/app
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