Washington, November 14, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has urged Congress to provide $50 billion to modernise the country’s ageing air traffic control system after a nationwide ground stop disrupted flights and stranded passengers across the United States.
Speaking at a briefing late Friday, Duffy said outdated communications equipment had become overloaded, resulting in inconsistent radar and communications data at air traffic control centres and terminal radar approach facilities. Officials were still investigating the precise cause of the failure, he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted the nationwide ground stop on Friday evening, issuing a cancellation notice at 8:19 p.m. EST. However, Duffy cautioned that flight operations would take time to return to normal as airlines assessed the availability of pilots and cabin crews. Some passengers could remain stranded until the following day.
According to Duffy, the disruption began at approximately 3:36 p.m. EST, when radar and communications systems became unstable. More than 3,500 aircraft were airborne at the time. Controllers and pilots followed established safety procedures to bring aircraft down safely, although radar and communications were not completely lost.
Emergency medical, organ transport and law enforcement flights were allowed to continue during the disruption.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said investigators had found no evidence of a cyberattack at the time of the briefing but were continuing to examine the incident. He also ruled out any connection with a separate Microsoft disruption.
Duffy attributed the problem to ageing switches and routers handling telecommunications data, noting that newer equipment had not experienced the same failure. He said affected facilities had been brought back online after officials reduced the system overload.
The transportation secretary said Congress had already allocated $12.5 billion for air traffic control modernisation, but additional funding was required for a wider overhaul. The proposed $50 billion remains a funding request and has not been approved by Congress.
Warning that further failures remained possible while outdated equipment was in service, Duffy said modernisation would take time. He expressed hope that operations would stabilise ahead of the busy Thanksgiving travel period and advised passengers to check flight updates with their airlines.
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