After seeking billions for FAA upgrades, Transportation Sec refuses to apologize for nationwide flight chaos
WASHINGTON, DC: After a telecommunications disruption and router overload prompted the FAA to order a nationwide flight ground stop, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy refused to apologize for the chaos and travel turmoil.
On Friday, November 13, the FAA ordered a ground stop, halting departures of flights across the US for around four hours following a technical disruption that occurred during the transition from old copper wires to modern fiber-optic connections.
Sean Duffy refuses to apologize for travel misery caused by FAA order
Appearing on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, November 15, the Transportation Secretary refused to apologize for the nationwide flight disruption that left thousands of passengers stranded and led to thousands of flight cancellations.
Instead, Duffy argued that the system had been compromised due to years of underinvestment, as he blamed previous administrations, including the Biden administration, for the situation.
“It happened on my watch, but we have to be clear: I am moving at an incredible speed that no one has done at the FAA or in decades, and I’m proud of the work we’re doing, the attention we’re bringing to this issue,” Duffy told host Kristen Welker.
“But I can’t apologize for what was passed off to us, and I can’t blame Republicans or Democrats because it’s all of them,” he further said.
Duffy said that even after the FAA lifted the ground stop, it would take airlines time to get their operations back on track. “We’re going to start seeing things get better today, but I think back to normal tomorrow,” Duffy said on Sunday.
Trump's transportation secretary refuses to guarantee no similar disruption
Notably, Trump's transportation secretary also refused to guarantee that a similar travel disruption would not happen in the future.
“First we have to figure out what happened. Was this a faulty installation by L3Harris that was doing their work for us? Was it a fault of the router itself? We have to do that investigation and make sure we take precautions. We don’t want to shut down the airspace,” Duffy responded when asked whether he could guarantee that such a disruption would not happen again.
Duffy said first they would find out the root cause and then fix the way the FAA is doing “business” currently.
Duffy reiterates his call for Congress to provide funding
During the interview, Duffy reiterated his demand for Congress to fund the modernization of the nationwide air traffic control system, which has long been outdated and faced problems.
“The president, since he came to office, has been pushing for modernization of the airspace. Before I was even sworn in, he brought this up,” the secretary said,
Notably, Duffy was referring to the $12.5 billion allocated for air traffic control improvements in a GOP-backed spending bill last year.
“They didn’t give me money for telecom. They didn’t give me money for new software,” Duffy added, saying he had to allocate the limited funding to different needs.
“We’re going to spend that $12.5 billion by the end of 2028, but I need the rest of the money for software and a new telecom architecture that will be way more resilient. I need that money so I can start that build,” he further added.
