Airspace across the United States slowly began returning to normal Saturday after a rare nationwide ground stop canceled thousands of flights and left travelers stranded. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference Saturday: “We are back to full operations.” He thanked the pilots, airline staff, air traffic controllers and the FAA for their professionalism during the ground stop. “All of our planes landed safely,” he said, also thanking passengers for their patience during the major disruption. “Planes are backing up, taxiing and taking off, and it is safe to fly,” Duffy previously said in a social media post on Saturday. “You will continue to see some delays and cancellations as airlines reschedule flights and reposition aircraft/crews where they are needed most.” More than 5,000 flights were canceled on Saturday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware, while about 5,300 others were delayed. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy arrives at a news conference at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026, in Washington. Tom Brenner/ AP Photo How did the FAA ground stop happen? The grounding began at 3:36 p.m. EST on Friday when the FAA ordered the shutdown while approximately 3,500 flights were in the air. “The FAA issued a precautionary ground stop while more than 3,500 aircraft were in the air,” Duffy said. All planes in the air were able to land safely. It got up around 8:20 pm EST on Friday. This marked the first nationwide ground stoppage since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system failed. Before that, the last domestic ground stop occurred after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. About 9,159 flights were canceled Friday and 7,190 were delayed, according to FlightAware, leaving passengers stranded at major airports across the country. Officials attributed the ground stop to aging system infrastructure and legacy technology. “What we have is an incredibly old air traffic control system,” Duffy said. Duffy said Saturday that a preliminary investigation found that an L3Harris contractor was working at a remote FAA location and swapping out old copper cables for fiber while replacing a router. The router being switched began flooding other routers, overloading the system. There were 1,000 login attempts every four or five seconds, he said. Visitors watch a plane as it prepares to land at Washington Dulles International Airport after the Federal Aviation Administration lifted nationwide ground stops in Chantilly, Virginia, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. Cliff Owen/AP Photo The transportation secretary said the FAA is working to determine if the problem was human error or if a faulty router was installed. Duffy said many contractors “take our money and provide really poor service.” He also said that L3Harris, a technology and defense company, owned the system. L3Harris said Saturday that the company has been modernizing the communications infrastructure that supports the National Airspace System in close coordination with the FAA. “We are supporting the FAA in its investigation to understand the conditions that led to the grounding of our nation’s air travel on November 13,” the company said in a statement, adding that they take the nationwide grounding and “its impact” seriously. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said upgrading the cables was a routine maintenance issue the agency had been working on for years. Approximately 70% of the system has been transferred from copper cables to fiber. After the router began flooding the system for 45 minutes, the FAA was unable to determine the cause of the instability. The instability then spread to 17 facilities, he said. “Out of an abundance of caution,” the FAA decided to issue a ground stop, Bedford said. He said he supports that call. Bedford said there was no evidence of anything nefarious or AI-related. Senior government sources told CBS News on Friday that the problem was limited to specific hardware: Cisco 600 series routers manufactured between 2001 and 2006. Duffy said in a post that the FAA is working to modernize “this aging infrastructure thanks to a $12.5 billion down payment guaranteed by President Trump, but that is not ENOUGH.” The Trump administration increased its funding request for air traffic control to $50 billion on Friday night. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a briefing Friday that there was no indication the ground stop was the result of a cyberattack. Duffy said Saturday that he doesn’t believe it was a cyberattack, but rather an FAA system that didn’t “seize the moment.” Can Americans travel safely? Several US officials said it is completely safe for Americans to fly. “Our top priority right now is making sure travelers get home safely to their families as quickly as possible,” Duffy said. He added Saturday that the United States has the “busiest” and “safest” airspace in the world. The FAA administrator said Saturday that there were 50,000 flights scheduled for Friday and when the ground stop occurred, 30,000 flights had been completed. Due to the grounding, around 12,000 flights could not be completed; About 3,000 of them were private flights, while the rest were commercial, Bedford said. Bedford said there will likely be 5,000 flight cancellations on Saturday, but airlines should be back on schedule by the end of the day on Sunday. “We anticipate that between four and 5,000 of the 41,000 flights scheduled for today will likely be cancelled, so we will still have delays and cancellations today, but that will set us up for a full recovery tomorrow,” he said. Delays remain possible at major airports across the country, including those in Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Pittsburgh, New York, Los Angeles and Baltimore. An American Airlines flight takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, after the Federal Aviation Administration suspended flights nationwide, Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. Tom Brenner/AP Photo Duffy said travelers should check with their airlines before heading to the airport. Delta said Saturday it would offer customers flexible rebooking options. The airline said it would continue to restore operations after a four-hour ground stop. “Customers traveling today should expect delays and additional schedule adjustments as we work to reposition flight crews and aircraft,” Delta said. American Airlines said Saturday that the airline has taken a number of steps toward recovery, but that travelers should continue to monitor the situation as operations return to normal. “While we are taking all necessary steps to limit the impact on our customers and team members, the lingering effects of this major disruption to the national airspace system will continue today, including additional delays and cancellations.” Southwest said Saturday that the airline instituted a waiver to allow customers to cancel their flights or rebook them at a later date without penalty. “We are working to get our customers to their destinations as quickly as possible,” Southwest said. Pat Milton, Kris Van Cleave and Nicole Sganga contributed to this report. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
