The Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for every U.S. airport, including Orlando International Airport, on Friday afternoon, November 13th. All departing flights must stay on the ground until further notice. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tied the order to a communication issue at the country’s air traffic control centers. Here’s the latest.
FAA Ground Stop Halts Departures at Orlando International Airport and Nationwide
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- The FAA ordered departing flights at all U.S. airports to stay on the ground until further notice.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tied the stop to a communication issue affecting air traffic control centers.
- Orlando International Airport showed departure delays of up to an hour on the FAA’s status page Friday afternoon.
Air travel across the country came to a rare standstill on Friday afternoon. The FAA’s order applies to every airport in the U.S. Flights heading out of Orlando face the same wait as everyone else while FAA technicians look into the problem.
What the FAA and Secretary Duffy Have Said
Duffy shared an official explanation for the order on Twitter: “The @FAAnews issued a nationwide ground stop for all U.S. airports following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers. FAA technicians are investigating the issue. We will provide immediate updates as we have them.”
Those centers manage aircraft flying at higher altitudes between airports. The FAA’s advisory to airlines cited “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety” and said departing traffic should stay grounded until further notice. Inbound flights will be handled case by case, according to the advisory. Flightradar24 reported that flights already in the air could continue to their destinations. It linked the stop to an FAA equipment outage. Neither Duffy nor the FAA has said what caused the issue or when departures will resume.
What It Means for Disney World Travelers
When we checked the FAA’s airport status page at about 4:25pm Eastern, Orlando International Airport showed departure delays of 46 minutes to an hour. The page listed those delays as increasing, tied to a stop for an equipment issue. We haven’t seen official word that the nationwide stop has been lifted. The delays at Orlando could grow the longer it stays in place.
Anyone flying to or from Orlando today should check their airline’s app for flight status before leaving for the airport. Guests already at Walt Disney World with a flight home tonight may face a long wait at the airport.
Nationwide ground stops are rare. The last one came on January 11th, 2023, when an outage of the FAA’s Notice to Air Missions system kept departures on the ground for about two hours. Reports describe Friday’s order as only the second national ground stop since the September 11th attacks. We’ll keep this article updated as we learn more.
Keep Reading
- Orlando International Airport launched new Gate Link trams as part of a $253 million upgrade project.
- Disney World’s airport luggage transfer service expanded to three more resorts last month, so more guests can skip baggage claim on the way to their hotel.
- Earlier this week, the Walt Disney World no-fly zone disappeared from the FAA’s list before the agency issued a new restriction over the resort.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!