U.S. air travel should be fully recovered from the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years by the end of Sunday, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said on Saturday (November 14, 2026).
asserted
Bedford → recover → Saturday
Mr. Bedford said the flights “will still have delays and cancellations” on Saturday (November 14) but promised that the “worst is behind us.”
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worst → say → us
His comments came as airlines across the U.S. worked to recover from a ground stoppage that lasted four hours, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers.
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that → come → passengers
New technology being added to the nation's air traffic control system overloaded antiquated equipment and caused “intermittent” communications and radar gaps, leading to the flight shutdown of more than four hours, Trump administration officials said.
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officials → add → hours
Planes were taking flight and landing on Saturday (November 14), Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said.
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Duffy → take → Transportation
But the effects could be felt for days.
uncertain
effects → feel → days
Officials say the system will likely return to normal in time to handle the Thanksgiving travel rush.
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system → say → rush
The nationwide stop was the first since January 2023, when another key Federal Aviation Administration computer system that sends notices to pilots malfunctioned, and the second since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Andrew Charlton, an aviation consultant, said Friday's (November 13) stoppage affected about a quarter of the 45,000 flights in the U.S. each day.
asserted
stoppage → send → U.S.
“The knock-on effect of that is incredible,” said Mr. Charlton, managing director of Aviation Advocacy.
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Charlton → knock → Advocacy
“The aircraft doesn't just fly from A to B and back to B and then stop.
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aircraft → fly → B
It then moves onto C and then over to E and around and around and around.
asserted
It → move → E
It is, of course, exacerbated if you're talking about long-haul flights, international flights over the Atlantic or over the Pacific.
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you → exacerbate → Pacific
”
Thousands of flights delayed and cancelled
At airports, passengers stared at screens showing delays or rushed to find buses or trains to their destinations.
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passengers → delay → destinations
Emily Brown and her 14-year-old daughter waited more than four hours on Friday (November 13) at the Dallas airport for their flight to Columbus, Ohio, before giving up.
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Brown → wait → Columbus
They were travelling to surprise her daughter's best friend.
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They → travel → friend
Instead, she had to settle for phoning the friend through tears in the airport, Ms. Brown said.
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Brown → have → airport
“She saved up her money to buy her own ticket, and she's planned this whole weekend,” Ms. Brown said.
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Brown → save → ticket
“Now we're not sure when we're gonna be able to go.”
asserted
we → go → ?
A cheerful Southwest Airlines gate agent greeted passengers at Dallas Love Field at dawn on Saturday (November 14) with, “Good morning, good morning,” then repeatedly said all flights were full and asked passengers to have boarding passes ready to expedite the process and help keep flights moving.
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passes → greet → flights
Sports teams scheduled to play this weekend adjusted game start times, searched for hotel rooms, rescheduled flights and chartered buses.
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teams → schedule → rooms
No. 19 Mississippi's game at Oklahoma was delayed a full day to Sunday (November 15).
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game → delay → Sunday
Start times for some other games were pushed back hours.
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times → push → games
FlightAware, a website that tracks flights, said more than 4,100 flights had been cancelled.
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flights → track → flights
Cirium, a similar site, put that number above 3,200 flights.
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Cirium → put → flights
The 37-year-old high school teacher paid $100 to take an Uber to a hotel 25 minutes from the airport after he was unable to find a flight until Saturday (November 14) afternoon to Chicago.
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he → pay → Chicago
At London's Heathrow Airport, several flights to and from the U.S. were listed as delayed or cancelled on Saturday (November 14).
“While U.S. flights have resumed, there may be some follow-on disruption as airlines work to rebook affected passengers and get all services back to normal,” said Tim Johnson, consumer director at the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority.
uncertain
Johnson → list → Authority
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that no one was in any danger as more than 3,000 flights in the air at the time of the grounding order landed safely.
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flights → tell → order
Mr. Duffy blamed Congress for failing to approve more funding for new technology, while downplaying the fact that trying to implement new fixes overtaxed the system.
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trying → blame → system
He suggested more disruptions might occur.
uncertain
disruptions → suggest → ?
“We didn't think we would have this kind of outage.
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we → think → outage
We did,” he said.
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he → do → ?
“We were able to review what went wrong, and then reboot the system and go.
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what → review → system
But, you will have more of these.”
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you → have → these
Mr. Duffy said the failure involved old equipment and was not linked to the FAA's new AI-powered system, which the agency is rolling out to help predict problems in the sky.
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agency → say → sky
The problem was due to updating a system that can never shut down, Mr. Charlton said.
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Charlton → update → system
“What you're watching here is trying to change the tires of your car when the car's going at 80 miles an hour down the expressway, because nothing stops in aviation,” Mr. Charlton said.
asserted
Charlton → watch → aviation
And to make changes on the fly, if you'll pardon that pun, is incredibly complex and dangerous.”
asserted
you → make → pun
The FAA already replaced thousands of old copper wires with fibre optic lines and upgraded hundreds of radio systems as part of the overhaul that began last year after Congress approved $12.5 billion in funding.
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Congress → replace → funding
Mr. Duffy and the White House are pushing for $30 billion more to complete the work.
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Duffy → push → work
Past problem linked to equipment failures
The problem appeared similar to a regional air traffic control communication outage in September that snarled hundreds of flights across the Northeast, although that disruption was linked to a construction crew cutting a fibre optic line. Ageing equipment was also blamed for brief radar outages last year that disrupted Newark airport.
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that → link → airport
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
