US flight suspension linked to copper wire upgrade, transport secretary says

A nationwide ground stop across the United States resulted in thousands of flight cancellations, says Transport Secretary Sean Duffy. The issue arose following a copper wire upgrade, and the government is investigating whether it was due to incompetence on the part of the organization performing the upgrade or faulty equipment. However, the US government does not suspect a cyber-attack or involvement of artificial intelligence in the disruption, according to FAA chief Bryan Bedford.

The lengthy flight suspension, the longest since the September 11, 2001 attacks, affected air travel for several days. Technology provider L3Harris was carrying out maintenance to replace old copper wires with fiber, and the country's telecommunications system is described as incredibly outdated. L3Harris had completed over 70% of its work to modernize communications infrastructure before the shutdown occurred.

The disruption lasted over four hours on Friday, with no departures allowed from 15:54 EST. More than 3,500 flights were cancelled and over 2,000 delayed during the ground stop, which continued into Saturday.