FAA ground stop live updates: Hundreds of flights canceled, no indication of 'nefarious' act

Major airlines are offering travel advisories and waivers.

Delta has issued a waiver allowing passengers to change their flight at no extra cost for Friday and Saturday.

United has issued a travel alert, and told passengers, "You can reschedule your trip and we’ll waive change fees and fare differences."

"But, your new flight must be a United flight departing between November 12, 2026 and November 20, 2026. Tickets must be in the same cabin and between the same cities as originally booked," United added.

-ABC News Clara McMichael

AirSpace Intel, the contractor behind the SMART AI system that has been rolling out at facilities nationwide, put out a statement on X about the ground stop.

"The current ground stop is not based on or a result of the SMART system, any product of ASI or our integration with FAA and ATC," the company said.

-ABC News' Ayesha Ali and Clara McMichael

As of 6:04 p.m., 1,913 flights have been cancelled and 10,494 flights have been delayed nationwide amid the ground stop, according to FlightAware.

That number is expected to increase throughout the night as the telecommunications issue continues to persist.

Earlier Friday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters that the federal government is investigating the incident and there was no indication yet that it was a "nefarious attack" and that everyone is safe.

"It's just a telecommunications outage as of now," he told reporters.

Mullin said the government will look into the root of the problem.

"This isn't another 9/11. I cannot repeat that enough," he added.