Sean Duffy says US flights should return to normal Monday

US flights should return to normal Monday: Transportation Secretary

Washington, Nov 15

Duffy said investigators were examining equipment linked to the outage, with support from the FBI, while officials disabled the broadcasting function on dozens of routers to prevent another flood of data through the air traffic control network.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press", he said recovery would take time because aircraft and crews had been left out of position. He declined to apologise for the condition of the system inherited from previous administrations.

"But I can't apologize for what was passed off to us," he said, blaming underinvestment under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

On ABC's "This Week", Duffy said the broadcasting capability of 69 routers had been disabled. Equipment was being examined at an L3Harris laboratory in Florida, with Federal Aviation Administration personnel on site.

The FAA identified two potential sources of the excessive data: a radio communications site in El Dorado, Arkansas, and a radar site in Amarillo, Texas. L3Harris, its network service provider, had been installing a new router at the Arkansas location.

The agency said the network stabilised after the two locations were isolated. Investigators had yet to establish the root cause, including whether installation work or faulty equipment was responsible.

The FAA said it had found no indication of a cyberattack. Some radio frequencies and radar feeds remained available throughout the disruption, allowing controllers to maintain contact with aircraft.

Duffy also faced questions about why maintenance had been carried out during the day. He told CBS's "Face the Nation" that similar work at remote facilities had previously been considered low risk, but the timing would now be reassessed.

He confirmed a $50 billion funding request and argued that the $12.5 billion Congress had already approved covered specific equipment and infrastructure rather than the new telecommunications architecture he wanted.

House Democrats challenged the administration's account of its funding needs.

Representatives Rick Larsen and Andre Carson, the senior Democrats on the House transportation committee and its aviation subcommittee, said Saturday that the administration had obligated $4.3 billion of the approved $12.5 billion but spent only $1 billion.

They said transportation and FAA officials would brief committee staff Monday on the administration's earlier request for an additional $30 billion. They also demanded answers about the disruption and said the committee would examine the administration's handling of air traffic control upgrades.

Friday's ground stop followed instability in communications and radar feeds across multiple air traffic control facilities. The FAA said approximately 3,500 aircraft already airborne landed safely and air traffic resumed at 8:15 p.m. Eastern. Airlines continued working through the resulting disruption over the weekend.

— IANS