The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has lifted a nationwide ground stop after a communications outage disrupted flights across the United States for more than four hours on Friday.
According to The Guardian, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ageing air traffic control equipment may have struggled to handle increased data from newer technology.
Officials suggested that older routers became overloaded, producing inconsistent information and forcing authorities to halt operations.
However, they did not confirm the exact cause of the disruption.
The outage came three days after the FAA introduced a new air traffic management system called Smart across 22 control centres.
Duffy denied that the new system, which uses artificial intelligence, was responsible.
During a White House briefing, both officials called for greater investment in modernising America’s air traffic control infrastructure.
“I want Congress to give us emergency funding. I want $50bn. President Trump is a builder. He is going to build this network, and deliver for the American people,” Duffy said.
Mullin also criticised the practice of upgrading older systems in stages, arguing that a complete replacement was necessary.
The FAA has since lifted the nationwide restriction, allowing flight operations to resume.
