A technical failure, not a cyberattack, caused departures from all airports in the US to be halted for more than four hours. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this after a problem with the air traffic control system caused widespread delays and flight cancellations.
According to Duffy, outdated equipment was overloaded with data while work was being carried out on a telecommunications line. An old copper cable was being replaced with fiber-optic cable, and a new router had been installed. It is still being determined whether the outage was caused by an error on the part of the contractor or by an equipment defect.
“Our contractor was not up to the task,” Duffy said.A preliminary investigation points to problems with older-generation routers that began sending inconsistent data to the broader air traffic control system. This led to disruptions in communications and radar services.
“There is no indication of anything malicious,” said Federal Aviation Administration head Bryan Bedford. Homeland Security Secretary Marquain Mullin also said there was no evidence of a cyberattack, but the cause of the failure is still being investigated.
Thousands of flights were affected
The Federal Aviation Administration imposed a nationwide ground stop on departures on November 13 after disruptions in communications and radar data began appearing at various air traffic control centers. The restriction was lifted in the evening, but the schedule gradually returned to normal.
According to data cited by the Associated Press, around 11,000 flights carrying more than 1.5 million passengers were scheduled after 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. At the time the stoppage began, more than 3,500 aircraft were in the air, while more than 3,000 landed safely. At least 827 flights were diverted or returned to their departure airports.
On November 14, all Federal Aviation Administration systems were operating at full capacity. Airlines, however, warned of continued delays and cancellations. Bedford said the worst consequences had passed, but restoring the schedule would take time. Operations are expected to return to normal by the end of Sunday.
Duffy calls for modernization
The transportation secretary used the crisis to urge Congress to provide additional funding to replace the outdated infrastructure. Duffy said the problem was not related to the new artificial intelligence system being deployed at the Federal Aviation Administration.
“This is all the old equipment. None of the new facilities that were brought online failed,” Duffy said. He warned that similar disruptions could recur if the system is not fully upgraded.
Sources: apnews.com, axios.com