Canada’s major airports have been affected by the grounding of flights across the United States after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights. The U.S. agency later lifted the order, but flight cancellations and delays at Canadian airports persist.
The international airports in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal said on the afternoon of Nov. 13 that all flights to and from the United States have been temporarily suspended. This followed the U.S. FAA ordering all planes to stay grounded “due to extraordinary circumstances and reasons for safety.”
The grounding order was lifted later on Nov. 13. U.S. officials said the reason for the order was that the air traffic control system became overloaded with data and shut down.
The alert, which the FAA issued at 3:54 p.m. ET, applied to all aircraft operations at all airports until further notice. About 3,100 aircraft bound for U.S. airports were in the air when the nationwide ground stop was ordered, according to the live air traffic radar service Flight Radar 24.
Air Canada said flights to and from the United States are cancelled for the rest of the day on Nov. 13.
Calgary airport said it has cancelled all flights “bound for the lower 48 states,” adding that delays are possible on other routes.
Vancouver airport said flight cancellations and delays are expected to continue, especially for U.S.- and Mexico-bound flights, while Toronto Pearson said flights to and from the United States continue to be cancelled or delayed.
Montreal airport said earlier on Nov. 13 that restrictions were in place from 6 to 8 p.m. EST because of “reduced system capacity,” according to a Nav Canada notice to airmen.
This was the first nationwide ground stop in the United States since January 2023, when a computer system malfunctioned. The last time before that was Sept. 11, 2001.
Canada’s Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon wrote online earlier on Nov. 13 that the federal government was aware of the nationwide ground stop in the United States that affected many airports and was monitoring the situation in partnership with Nav Canada.
“While Canadian systems are operating normally, travel to the United States may be disrupted as a result of the ground stops,” he said. “We will continue to monitor developments as the situation evolves and remain in contact with the relevant authorities.”
MacKinnon later said that Canada had offered its full assistance to the FAA as it worked to manage the situation, including accommodating U.S.-bound aircraft as required.
“We remain ready to provide support to our American colleagues as the situation evolves,” he added.
Meanwhile, Microsoft said in an online post that it had no indication the FAA nationwide ground stop was related to any of its services, which experienced disruption on Nov. 12 and took Outlook and other services offline.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
