Duffy, Mullin call for $50B air travel 'overhaul' in fiery ground stop briefing

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday after a telecommunications outage halted departures at US airports for several hours. The disruption began shortly before 4 p.m. ET and was lifted at 8:15 p.m. ET, according to The Indian Express. The halt caused widespread delays and cancellations, with The Vibes reporting nearly 4,700 cancelled flights and DW News noting that over 10,000 flights were delayed.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy attributed the outage to unstable radar communications caused by an overloaded legacy network consisting of old switches, routers, and 1980s copper lines. The Indian Express reported that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated technology upgrades had overwhelmed the antiquated system.

France 24 noted that officials explained the disruption was not due to a cyberattack or a Microsoft outage, and Mullin added there was no indication the breakdown involved artificial intelligence.

The FAA stated the ground stop was a precautionary measure taken due to extraordinary circumstances and for safety. While departures resumed, The Vibes reported that aviation officials continued working to resolve operational problems following the disruption.

Brief written by urgent.news from France 24, The Indian Express, The Vibes, DW English (Top Stories), DW News — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.