The United States grounded its planes. Not for a meteorological emergency, not for a confirmed terrorist threat, but for a situation that the federal authorities have defined as so serious as to require the suspension of all departures on national territory. Friday 13 November Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) he ordered a general block on takeoffs, leaving thousands of passengers in airports and opening a crisis involving the American air traffic control system. Communications between the regional centers present problems, technicians are trying to identify the origin and statements are arriving from Washington which, at least for now, do not allow us to establish with certainty what happened.
The measure was officially motivated by “extraordinary circumstances” and security reasons. An exceptional wording, used for an equally rare measure: since September 11, 2001, only once had the United States suspended all air travel nationwide.
According to Reuters, almost 7 thousand flights were delayed or cancelled in the first hours of the emergency. The balance is provisional and the consequences could also extend to international traffic, including Europe.
But while airports try to manage the situation, another front is opening up in Washington: that of responsibilities, infrastructure safety and the investments necessary to modernize one of the most complex aeronautical systems in the world.
The FAA blocks all takeoffs: what happened in the United States
The decision came after the Federal Aviation Administration reported serious problems with air traffic control communications. Shortly before the nationwide order, the agency had already imposed flight restrictions in the Chicago area.
The subsequent measure extended the blockade to all American airports, asking departing aircraft to remain on the ground until further notice.
The Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy confirmed that the problem affects him Air Route Traffic Control Centersthe centers responsible for managing flights during travel between different regions of the United States.
“FAA technicians are investigating the problem,” Duffy explained, announcing further updates.
I am 22 regional centers through which an essential part of American air traffic is organised. Coordination between these structures is essential to ensure the separation of aircraft, manage routes and transmit operational instructions to pilots.
A communications interruption can therefore impose very extensive preventive measures, without this necessarily meaning that every single navigation or control system has stopped working.
The distinction is fundamental: the authorities have confirmed a communication problem, but have not yet definitively identified the cause that caused it.
Thousands of canceled and delayed flights: what happens to planes already in flight
The FAA order primarily affected aircraft waiting to depart. For those already in flight, the situation is different.
An immediate and indiscriminate landing of all planes present in American skies was not ordered. Operations are managed according to security conditions and communications availability. According to updates released by the American media, some aircraft were asked to maintain pre-established holding circuits before landing.
For international flights to the United States, the FAA has announced a case-by-case evaluation.
The operational consequences manifested themselves quickly. FlightAware, a platform specialized in monitoring air traffic, recorded thousands of delays, while at airports passengers had to wait for instructions from the companies.
The problem does not only concern the departures directly involved in the block. When an aircraft remains stationary on the ground, it may not be available for the next connection. A crew can reach maximum service limits, a connection can be missed, and a flight scheduled many hours later can be changed.
This is the domino effect that makes it particularly difficult to restore traffic regularity after a nationwide suspension.
The White House and the cyberattack hypothesis: statements from the Trump government
The outage immediately raised questions about whether it was a cyberattack, a technical glitch or a telecommunications infrastructure event.
The Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullinspeaking to reporters outside the White House, said there were currently no indications of an intentional attack against the United States.
According to Mullin, the available information describes a interruption of telecommunicationsbut investigations have yet to establish what caused it.
When explicitly asked about the possibility of a cyberattack or a problem related to artificial intelligence, the secretary explained that investigators must consider the different possibilities, without this meaning that one of them has been confirmed.
Mullin also tried to reassure the passengers’ families, underlining that no elements have emerged that indicate a terrorist threat.
The administration’s message is therefore twofold: on the one hand the need to guarantee the safety of flights, on the other, prudence regarding the causes.
At present, there is no official confirmation of sabotage, cyberattack or malfunction of a specific software.
Democrats demand answers: Robert Garcia wants clarification from the FAA
The story also immediately entered the American political debate.
Democratic congressman from California Robert Garciaa member of the House of Representatives Aviation Subcommittee, asked the Trump administration to provide detailed explanations of the outage.
Interviewed by MS NOW, Garcia defined the situation as extremely serious, specifying that he did not want to pre-judge what may have happened.
The MP drew attention to the consequences for millions of travelers and the risk that an interruption of this scale would cause repercussions on the entire air connection system.
Garcia called for greater transparency from the FAA, the Department of Transportation and the White House, arguing that passengers have a right to clear information about such an extraordinary decision.
The request for clarification is part of a political debate that has already been open for some time on the safety of air transport, the state of federal infrastructures and the management of new technologies.
The new FAA artificial intelligence system: why we are now talking about SMART
There is another element that is attracting particular attention in the United States.
The November 10, just three days before the national lockdownthe FAA had announced the extension of the system Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectoriesknown by the acronym SMARTto the airspace managed by all 22 American regional centers.
It is a cloud-based platform equipped with advanced analysis tools, designed to process information on traffic, weather conditions, routes and staff availability.
The declared objective is to improve the management of air flows, reduce delays and optimize routes. The system develops operational recommendations, while decisions remain entrusted to those responsible for traffic control.
The introduction of the technology had already raised political questions.
On October 13, a group of Democratic lawmakers, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezhad asked the FAA to suspend its introduction at Washington-area airports until more detailed information on safety testing, staff training and oversight mechanisms was released.
According to the Associated Press, Mullin said the investigation will also take into consideration the possibility of a connection with the recent introduction of the new system.
But it is necessary to underline one point: no authorities have determined that SMART is responsible for the Nov. 13 outage.
The temporal proximity between the extension of the platform and the blocking of flights does not constitute evidence of a cause and effect relationship.
The precedent of 2023 and the problem of American infrastructure
A national shutdown of this magnitude has not occurred since January 2023, when a malfunction of the NOTAM system, used to distribute essential operational information to pilots, forced the FAA to temporarily suspend departures.
On that occasion the stop lasted less than two hours. Before then, a similar national measure had been adopted after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The comparison allows us to understand the rarity of the decision, but does not imply any similarity between the causes of the different events.
Above all, the November 2026 outage brings attention to an unresolved issue: the modernization of the infrastructure used to control American skies.
In 2025 Congress approved 12.5 billion dollars for the FAA’s technological renewal, a program that includes replacing old copper cables with fiber optic connections and upgrading radio equipment.
According to Reuters, just on Friday the FAA and the White House asked Congress for more 30.1 billion dollars to address the critical issues that still exist.
The coincidence makes the debate on infrastructure even more relevant, but it does not prove that today’s blockage was caused by obsolete equipment.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo, interviewed by the Associated Press, also indicated the possible role of outdated technologies as a hypothesis to be explored further, not as a conclusion.
Flights from Italy to the United States: what consequences for passengers
The repercussions of the blockade could also affect connections between Italy and the United States.
Direct flights to American airports are managed according to the provisions of the US authorities, while companies must evaluate any changes to operations.
The airports of New York, Newark, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and Los Angeles represent important hubs for transatlantic connections and subsequent internal connections.
A passenger departing from Italy could therefore suffer delays even if their flight was not directly cancelled, especially in the presence of connections in the United States.
However, at the moment, sufficient official data is not available to quantify the cancellations or delays specifically recorded on Italian routes.
The airlines remain the reference for information relating to individual connections.
When will flights start again in the United States?
The main question remains without a definitive answer.
At the time of the last updates consulted, the FAA had not communicated an official time for the complete restoration of departures. Technicians continue to verify the functioning of communications and the authorities are evaluating the conditions necessary to guarantee the safe resumption of operations.
Even when the blockade is lifted, recovering flights may take longer, with aircraft having to be repositioned, crews having to be reorganized and connections having to be rescheduled.
But the central point, for now, remains another. The American government has stopped takeoffs across the country due to a situation deemed incompatible with normal air traffic management. The communications breakdown has been confirmed; its origin, however, remains to be ascertained.
