US Aviation Chaos to Continue on Sunday as Thousands of Flights Remain Cancelled

November 15, 2026

Washington: Air traffic disruptions will continue at US airports on Sunday, November 15 after a technical issue forced widespread flight cancellations and delays. Thousands of passengers are now stuck at various airports.

FAA chief Bryan Bedford said on Saturday (local time) it was unlikely flight times would return to normal until late on Sunday while they work to get their systems running smoothly again.

Over 6,150 flights have been cancelled and over 7,300 have been delayed across the United States up until 6:45 pm ET (11:45 pm GMT) on Saturday. Over 9,200 flights were cancelled and over 7,500 delayed on Friday. Over 530 flights on Sunday have also been cancelled.

FAA Chief Apologises for Disruptions Leaving Thousands Stuck

Bedford apologised to passengers who have been affected by the disruptions and assured them that the aviation system throughout the country was stable. The FAA is working hard to get everything back to normal and expects flights to largely be back to normal by late on Sunday.

But getting everything back to normal has proved difficult for airlines. In addition to flight cancellations and delays, they need to redeploy planes, pilots and crew.

Thousands of passengers are stuck at airports across the country due to the continued disruption. Despite the FAA working to get their systems running smoothly, airlines will likely face further issues.

Why Did Flights Across the US Get Disrupted?

The crisis started on Friday when the FAA had to put everything on hold by putting a nationwide ground stop in place. This meant that nearly all flights leaving the country were cancelled.

This was the worst nationwide disruption since the September 11th 2001 attacks. It also caused one of the worst days in US aviation history with thousands of flights cancelled.

An emergency meeting was held at the White House as they looked to understand what had happened.

At first it was thought that a cyber attack may have caused the disruption. But Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later said that the issue was tracked down to at least one new router being installed by FAA contractor L3Harris at a remote site.

Passengers and airlines are waiting for everything to get back to normal. The FAA expects flights to largely be back to normal by late Sunday. But it has certainly caused some issues in the country.