FAA back at "full operations" after Friday outage, Transportation Sec. says
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Saturday that all FAA systems are back to "full operations" after an hours-long outage Friday evening that grounded all air traffic across the U.S.
Key points
- Duffy said it's unclear whether the outage occurred because of contractor error or faulty equipment, but they are working to figure that out.
- Bedford added that they have no reason to believe a cyberattack or an AI issue prompted the outage.
- Duffy has previously said the FAA needs $30 billion to update airports and air traffic control.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford warned that up to 5,000 flight cancellations will remain throughout today, but airlines have assured the agency that they should return to normal operations by the end of the day Sunday.
Additional details
- The big picture: Duffy reiterated his plea to Congress to fund upgrades to the nation's air traffic control equipment, explaining that proper upgrades could have prevented the ground stop.
- This is bipartisan." Bedford offered a blunt assessment when reporters asked about the system's function, saying it's the "worst-kept secret in government" that it needs an upgrade.
- After Friday's outage, Duffy upped the funding request to $50 billion.
- "For me, it gets to be frustrating where everyone says they want to do it, and the president is pushing it, but we don't get the resources," Duffy said.
- According to numbers from FlightAware, over 4,600 international and domestic flights have been canceled, and over 13,000 delayed, as of 11:30 am ET.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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