Trump blames Biden for FAA ‘disaster’ as he pushes Congress to fund air traffic system overhaul
WASHINGTON, DC: Amid political and technical controversy over the FAA’s nationwide ground stop, President Donald Trump has argued that the US air traffic control system is outdated and needs a major overhaul, while blaming the former Biden administration for the FAA's current state.
The development came after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a rare nationwide ground stop, halting all flight departures across US airports for more than four hours (from roughly 3:54 pm to 8:15 pm) on Friday, November 13.
Trump asks Congress to approve funding for air traffic control update
In a series of Truth Social posts early Sunday, November 15, President Donald Trump addressed the FAA operational and structural issue that emerged on Friday, demanding that Congress approve funding for air traffic control upgrades.
Trump says his administration already has a plan and the technical knowledge needed to upgrade the air traffic control system. However, he argued that Congress must approve the funding quickly to get the work done.
“If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently. It will be the BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently. It will be the BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World. Much of our current air control system is 50 years old - RIDICULOUS! We have already started the work, but it should be done all at once, not in drips and drabs. Congress must approve. The Biden Administration set it back years! President DJT ( TS: Nov 15 2026, 8:35 AM ET )
— Commentary Donald J. Trump Truth Social Posts On X (@TrumpTruthOnX) November 15, 2026
Trump ridiculed the 50-year-old air traffic control system.
He further said that the traffic control system needs a complete overhaul instead of a gradual upgrade.
Trump said the Biden administration mishandled the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), wasted money, and left the air traffic control system in worse shape than it was before.
“Everything they touched turned bad. Big money spent unwisely, making an old and broken system worse than when they began,” Trump wrote in another post.
President Trump urged Congress to fund new Flight Control Systems "FAST," calling the Biden administration an "FAA disaster." He wrote that his team has "the knowledge and plan" and that the FAA "is ready to go." https://t.co/54VeDMY4sd
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) November 15, 2026
He also praised the FAA, saying that it was doing a “great job.”
Why FAA grounded nationwide flights on Friday
The FAA order, which was only the second nationwide ground stop of all departing flights in the United States since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, halted departures across the country for around four hours.
The order led to more than 10,000 flight delays and thousands of cancellations, with disruptions continuing over the weekend.
A telecommunications disruption affecting Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs), was identified as the cause of the flight operational disruption.
While L3Harris was replacing old copper cables with modern fiber-optic connections, , a problem involving a router caused an overload across the network.
According to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the router began flooding other routers with more than 1,000 connection attempts every four to five seconds. This disrupted communications between air traffic control centers and affected radar feeds, forcing the FAA to halt flight departures across the country.
Notably, the problem was not necessarily caused by a failure of the old copper wiring itself. It occurred during the process of upgrading the system. Officials were still investigating whether the issue resulted from a faulty router or an installation or user error.
