US flights resume after FAA lifts hours-long nationwide ground stop

On November 14, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that US national airspace has resumed operations after a nationwide ground stop was lifted. While flight movement will depend on resources, Duffy explained that it would take time to "unwind what’s happened this afternoon." The ripple effect of the outage is expected to persist for a few days.

Duffy clarified that there is "zero evidence' of a cyber attack" behind the outage, dispelling claims that it had anything to do with the Microsoft outage many experienced the previous day. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reiterated that the administration is prioritizing safety and assisting stranded passengers. Mullin emphasized that the public was never at risk, repeating that "no one was ever at risk."

The issue arose due to "old legacy equipment" failing, according to Duffy, who is requesting $50 billion from Congress to build new air traffic control systems. He explained that the "patchwork fix" overwhelmed existing systems, causing the outage. Duffy stated that none of the new equipment recently rolled out is to blame. "What went down was old," he emphasized, attributing the failure to outdated equipment and network issues.

During a press briefing at the White House, Duffy provided an incident timeline, noting that instability in the radar, communications, and centers was first experienced at 3:36 pm local time. Once inconsistent data from routers started registering, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a nationwide ground stop. Duffy attributed the inconsistency to the "incredibly old air traffic control system" and explained that the routers became "overloaded with data," leading to "inconsistency" in the data received.

Duffy urged Congress to provide resources for building a state-of-the-art air traffic system and expressed the need for $50 billion to revamp the current system. As Thanksgiving travel, typically one of the busiest times of the year in the US, is approaching in less than two weeks, Duffy highlighted that larger planes will be prioritized over smaller movements to expedite the restoration of operations.