White House / President·Air travel
Update: Airspace reopens after nearly five-hour nationwide ground stop; Duffy asks Congress for $50 billion in emergency money to replace air traffic systems
The FAA reopened U.S. airspace at 8:15 p.m. ET Friday after a nationwide outage grounded flights for nearly five hours, with more than 2,700 flights canceled and 11,000 delayed as of 7 p.m., the Washington Examiner reported. At the White House, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed overloaded switches and routers on outdated analog telecommunications equipment and asked Congress for $50 billion in emergency funding, up from the $30 billion Trump requested earlier: "Give us the money to fix it." Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin called the old system "a national security risk," and Duffy warned delays could continue and "You will have more of them" until the overhaul is done.
Sources
- Washington ExaminerDuffy implores Congress to stump up $50 billion after FAA outage: 'Give us the money to fix it'
- Washington ExaminerFAA lifts nationwide ground stop following historic halt on all air travel