Airports across Canada suspended flights to and from the United States after a U.S. FAA ground stop order Friday afternoon, with delays continuing for some routes.
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A countrywide ground stop by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration led to airports across Canada suspending flights to and from the United States on Friday afternoon, before the order was lifted about five hours later.
The FAA issued the ground stop at around 4 p.m. eastern time, citing communications issues affecting nearly two dozen air traffic control centres that direct planes en route between airports across the country.
Nav Canada said it would continue to ensure air traffic remains safe and efficient in Canadian airspace, adding that “Some delays may continue while operations return to normal and backlogs are cleared,” and urged passengers to check flight status with their airline.
At the Vancouver Airport Authority, continued cancellations and delays were expected, particularly for flights to the continental United States and Mexico, as airlines worked to restore their networks.
Toronto Pearson International Airport said arriving and departing U.S. flights continued to experience disruptions and cancellations.
Calgary Airport Authority said after the ground stop was lifted that it was making a similar move, stating, “All flights bound for the lower 48 states have now been cancelled out of YYC for Friday, Nov. 13, and some delays are still possible across other routes.”
Air Canada said late Friday it was cancelling the rest of its U.S. flights for the rest of the day.
At Pearson, passengers reported being unable to get timely answers as some checked phones repeatedly and waited with luggage after U.S. processing shut down at the airport.
Kelly Adenike, travelling from Pearson toward Punta Cana, said she was trying to determine whether she would get out of Toronto or be sent home, adding, “This really sucks.”
Brenda Zhou and her daughter, Athena Guan, were scheduled to fly to Miami for Athena’s college soccer identification camp; Zhou said they had cleared initial steps and were preparing for U.S. customs processing when they were sent out.
Zhou said Air Canada rebooked them on a flight to Tampa for Saturday night, which would mean Athena would miss a camp session on Saturday morning, and that she had already paid for a hotel, a rental car and the camp registration fee.
Another traveller, Samantha Chowen from Regina, said her flight from Nashville to Toronto was not able to take off after the captain announced an unforeseen air traffic control issue, and that passengers were later asked to deplane after about an hour.
Chowen said she was told not to expect to fly home to Canada on Friday and to get a hotel and wait for further notice, saying the airline could not guarantee timing when it would send rerouted options.
Chowen said she tore her ACL on the third day of her vacation and that she was trying to get home by Monday for an MRI.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that nobody was in any danger during the communications failure, saying, “There was never any lives at risk,” and, “There was no flights at risk. FAA was able to handle it. We did it out of an abundance of caution.”
Mullin said there appeared to be no indication of a cyberattack and said the FAA was installing new equipment, describing “the older system” as being overwhelmed.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said there was no guarantee the situation would not repeat, and repeatedly called on Congress to authorize billions of dollars to modernize federal aviation safety.
The Canadian suspension followed the first countrywide ground stop in the United States since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, with the last prior shutdown before that occurring after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
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