Air travel disruptions across the United States could continue until Monday, with more than 1,400 flights already cancelled as the Trump administration struggles to restore normal operations following a nationwide ground stop.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Sunday that although air traffic was expected to stabilise during the day, it could take until Monday for aircraft, crews and passengers to return to their scheduled positions.
“We’re going to see things come back to normal today, but probably fully normal tomorrow,” Duffy said in an interview on ABC News.
He explained that Friday’s disruption had left several aircraft and flight crews out of position, making an immediate return to normal operations difficult.
Data from flight monitoring platform FlightAware showed that 1,460 flights within, into or out of the US had been cancelled as of Sunday morning.
The disruption followed a nationwide ground stop on Friday, which prevented aircraft from taking off after a problem involving communication cables used by air traffic controllers.
Officials attributed the incident to faulty work during an upgrade of the air traffic control communication system, which relies partly on ageing infrastructure.
It was reportedly only the second time a nationwide ground stop had been issued in US airspace since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
President Donald Trump broke his silence on the disruption on Sunday, blaming his predecessor, Joe Biden, for what he described as a poorly maintained aviation system.
“The Biden Administration was an FAA disaster,” Trump said, accusing the previous administration of spending public funds unwisely and worsening the condition of the system.
He also called on Congress to approve funding for the modernisation of the country’s outdated air traffic control infrastructure.
Duffy, meanwhile, rejected calls for his resignation, saying he inherited an aviation system with serious infrastructure problems, including radar equipment dating back to the 1960s.
He appealed for $50 billion to upgrade the air traffic control system, urging Congress to provide the necessary funding.
However, Democrats criticised the administration’s position, arguing that Republicans, who control Congress, could already have approved funding for the improvements.
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