US3 min(s) read
Trump admin responds as US airspace reopens after four-hour FAA nationwide ground stop
Flights across the United States are beginning to resume after a rare nationwide ground stop brought air travel to a halt for around four hours on Friday evening, and now the Trump administration has responded.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the order at approximately 8.30pm EST, several hours after it was introduced at around 4pm due to what officials described as “extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety”.
However, the disruption left thousands of passengers facing delays and cancellations, with officials warning that it would take time for the country's aviation network to return to normal.
More than 9,000 flights were delayed on Friday, according to FlightAware, although some disruptions may have been caused by weather conditions and other issues unrelated to the ground stop.
Trump administration responds to ground halt
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Speaking after the order had been lifted, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the incident on the country's ageing air traffic control infrastructure, calling for Congress to approve $50 billion to modernize the system.
“It's the old hardware that went down. And I think the question for the American people is, 'Do you want your Congress to fund this?'” Duffy claimed.
“We have old switches, old routers. It's an old system that went down and went down everywhere. It got overloaded. I don't want to rule out that we didn't have nefarious activity here.”
He argued that the funding previously allocated by President Donald Trump was not enough to complete the necessary upgrades.
“We had a down payment — President Trump asked for it in the One Big Beautiful Bill — of $12.5 billion. That portion of the bill will be done by the time President Trump leaves office,” he explained.
“That's partial funding, and I think America demands that Congress give the rest of the resources to finish.”
Duffy said he wanted the additional money to help deliver a “state-of-the-art” air traffic control system, rather than continue making temporary repairs to existing infrastructure.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also addressed the disruption, insisting there was no evidence of a cyberattack.
He criticized lawmakers for failing to address the country's ageing infrastructure, saying: “This is what happens when Congress kicks the can down the road.”
Mullin also attempted to reassure passengers that the incident had not put lives in danger.
“There was never any lives at risk,” he said. “There was no flights at risk. FAA was able to handle it. We did it out of an abundance of caution.”
He acknowledged that speculation and conspiracy theories had emerged online, but said there was no indication of a wider incident.
Officials unable to provide explanation
However, officials were unable to provide a definitive explanation for what had caused the system to become overloaded, with Mullin admitting that there was “nothing completely certain” late on Friday.
The administration was also unable to explain why the failure had occurred when it did, leaving questions about the precise cause unanswered.
Although the nationwide ground stop has now been lifted, the full extent of the disruption is still being felt, with passengers facing the prospect of further delays as airlines work through the backlog.