Microsoft Denies Any Involvement in ATC Outage That Caused Nationwide Ground Stop for All Flights
Microsoft Denies Any Involvement in ATC Outage That Caused Nationwide Ground Stop for All Flights
Angelique BrenesSat, November 14, 2026 at 12:27 AM UTC
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Microsoft campus; Air traffic control tower at Philadelphia International AirportCredit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty; John Greim/Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty -
Microsoft says its ongoing Microsoft 365 outage is not connected to the FAA disruption, as services including Outlook, Teams and Copilot remain affected
The FAA issued a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights on Friday, Nov. 13, citing communication issues affecting multiple air traffic control centers
The ground stop marks the second nationwide halt of all departures since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
Microsoft said there is no connection between its ongoing outage and the air traffic control issues that prompted a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights across the U.S. on Friday, Nov. 13.
“Microsoft has no indication that the FAA nationwide ground stop is related to the recent service disruption,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to PEOPLE.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also told reporters the Microsoft outage and the nationwide ground stop are “separate issues,” and he doesn’t see “any reason to connect those two at all.”
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued the ground stop shortly before 4 p.m. ET on Friday, citing “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” according to an advisory from the agency’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center obtained by FlightRadar24. The order prevents aircraft from departing U.S. airports and was scheduled to remain in effect until 11 p.m. ET.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, an FAA spokesperson confirmed that communication issues were behind the disruption, saying they were “impacting multiple Air Route Traffic Control Centers.” FAA technicians are investigating the problems, the spokesperson said, adding that the agency would provide further updates.
The Washington Examiner reported that the outage involved a “rolling frequency” issue at facilities responsible for tracking aircraft in the air, citing two FAA sources familiar with the situation. The FAA advisory also noted that arriving international flights would be evaluated individually.
The sudden order caught some pilots by surprise. Audio recordings obtained by ATC.com captured several pilots questioning air traffic controllers about the ground stop as they prepared to depart.
Passenger planes taxi at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)Credit: Caroline Brehman / AFP via Getty
“Why is there a ground stop?” the pilot of Delta Air Lines Flight 869 asked controllers at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in one recording.
“Uh, we are not aware of a reason,” the controller responded. “We just know it’s indefinite and U.S.-wide.”
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s separate service disruption has entered its second day, affecting services including Outlook, Teams and Copilot. The outage began before 11:17 a.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 12.
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The disruption has affected businesses and government agencies around the world, including offices in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to Politico. Downdetector also reported that more than 140,000 people across 74 countries experienced issues with Outlook alone on Thursday afternoon, according to the BBC.
Microsoft executive Charles Lamanna addressed the outage in a post on X Thursday, apologizing to customers and saying the company was working to restore services.
“We regret that today’s outages caused disruptions for our customers, and we are working to address the issue,” Lamanna wrote.
Laguardia Airport in New YorkCredit: Getty
“We will continue to share more information as soon as we have it, and for now I can confirm that there is no indication this is the result of malicious or cyber activity,” he added.
In an update early Friday morning, Microsoft said users might still be unable to access multiple Microsoft 365 services, though the company reported progress toward resolving the issue. It also said it would publish a full post-incident report detailing the root cause and steps to prevent future disruptions once the issue was resolved.
Friday’s nationwide ground stop marks the second such disruption since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
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The last comparable incident occurred on Jan. 11, 2023, when the FAA temporarily halted domestic departures following an outage involving its Notice to Air Missions system, which provides pilots with important preflight safety information, according to CNN.
That disruption lasted less than two hours, but affected major carriers including United Airlines, Delta and American Airlines. More than 9,500 flights to, from and within the U.S. were delayed, while more than 1,300 were canceled by that evening, according to FlightAware data.
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