FAA Lifts Nationwide Ground Stop After Communications Failure, Transportation Secretary Calls for $50 Billion Overhaul
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop on Friday after a communications failure at air traffic control centers caused widespread chaos at US airports. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that US airspace reopened at 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time, but warned that departures would resume gradually, and it would take time for airlines to restore normal operations. The incident led to the cancellation of over 6,600 flights and the delay of 8,600, with an additional 1,500 flights already canceled for Sunday. Secretary Duffy explained that the trouble began at 3:36 p.m. when radar and communications systems experienced instability due to overloaded switches and routers. He clarified that while the system was shut down to prevent data inconsistencies, radar and communications were never completely lost, allowing thousands of planes to land safely. Secretary Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin met with President Trump in the Oval Office to discuss the outage...
