US air traffic was paralyzed for over four hours due to a serious problem with the communications systems used by air traffic controllers. On Friday 13 November, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the federal authority responsible for American civil aviation, ordered the blocking of departures throughout the country, an exceptional measure which caused thousands of cancellations, delays and heavy inconveniences at airports.
The measure was subsequently revoked, but the consequences continue to weigh on air connections, including international ones. According to data reported by ABC News, nearly 5,000 flights were canceled on Friday, with further impacts expected on Saturday, November 14.
What caused the blocking of flights in the United States
The cause of the emergency appears to be a malfunction in the telecommunications infrastructure that connects the American air traffic control centers.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explained that the problem affected radar systems and communications between control towers and planes, making it necessary to temporarily interrupt takeoffs for safety reasons.
The first checks identified critical issues in a now dated technological system, still partly based on analogue infrastructures. In particular, some network equipment would have been overloaded with data, compromising the reliability of the information transmitted.
US authorities have ruled out that the outage was caused by a cyber attack. Nor have any elements emerged linking the failure to the new artificial intelligence tools progressively introduced in air traffic management.
Thousands of passengers stranded at airports
The consequences were immediate. At American airports, many passengers remained on board the planes waiting for directions, while others were forced to disembark after having already completed boarding operations.
Particularly complicated situations were reported at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, where congestion at runways and gates prevented even the return of planes to the terminals.
Inconveniences also occurred in Denver, with passengers taken off planes ready for departure.
At the time of the interruption, thousands of planes were already in the air. The authorities have therefore envisaged a differentiated management of operations, allowing aircraft that have already taken off to continue towards their respective destinations and individually evaluating the arrival of international connections.
Repercussions also on flights from Italy and Europe
The emergency also involved transatlantic connections. Among the affected flights were several planes departing from Italian airports and heading to the United States, including connections from Rome Fiumicino to Dallas, Atlanta, Denver and New York. Other flights had taken off from Milan and Catania with American destination.
Cancellations were also recorded in the UK, including a connection from London Heathrow to New York JFK.
The Farnesina and the Italian embassy in the United States followed the evolution of the situation in coordination with the local authorities, while Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was informed of the developments.
Stop lifted, but inconveniences could continue
After more than four hours of suspension, on the American evening of Friday 13 November the FAA authorized the gradual resumption of departures.
The return to normality, however, is not immediate. Airlines must reorganize crews, reposition aircraft and manage passengers stranded at airports.
The episode brought attention to the conditions of the technological infrastructures that regulate US air traffic and the need to modernize communication systems that are fundamental for flight safety.
An IT or telecommunications failure can in fact cause consequences on an international scale, affecting thousands of connections and passengers all over the world in just a few hours.
Sources: Federal Aviation Administration – Official release dated November 13, 2026
