What are the details of the airline crisis in the USA?

The US FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) lifted a nationwide flight ban after a communications failure at air traffic control centers sparked chaos at airports across the country and resulted in the longest flight shutdown since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that US airspace has reopened; However, he warned that flights will start gradually and it will take time for airline companies to return to normal operations.

According to FlightRadar24 data, more than 6,600 flights were canceled and 8,600 flights were delayed; 1500 flights planned for Sunday have already been cancelled. Aviation analysts stated that the four-hour flight suspension decision across the country could disrupt airline schedules for days. Duffy stated that tens of thousands of passengers were stranded at airports across the country.

Duffy stated that he and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office and discussed the outage. The malfunction in question; It was the most striking indicator of the problems in the US air traffic control system, which is struggling with aging technology, equipment and communication problems, as well as a shortage of thousands of air traffic controllers.

Duffy stated that the problem started with instability in the radar and communication systems in air traffic control centers. "Our switches and routers experienced data overload; when inconsistencies began to occur in the data coming from these devices, we decided to shut down the system," Duffy said. Emphasizing that the radar or communication link was not completely lost at any stage, Duffy added that thousands of planes were ensured to land safely.

While Duffy stated that the urgent problem was resolved and flights were safe, he warned that the aging air traffic control system needed to be comprehensively overhauled to prevent similar malfunctions.

50 billion dollar renewal demand

Duffy blamed Congress for not funding a new system that could prevent such outages and requested $50 billion to modernize the system.

Hours before the outage, Transportation Secretary Duffy and the White House administration called on Congress to approve a $30.1 billion budget to improve the country's aging airports and air traffic control infrastructure. "We have an incredibly old air traffic control system. Give us the resources we need to fix it," Duffy said.

Homeland Security Secretary Mullin stated that there is currently "no evidence" that the outage was caused by a cyber attack or an out-of-control artificial intelligence system, but researchers have not yet completely ruled out either possibility. “The issue appears to be mechanical in origin, however we are continuing to investigate,” Mullin said.

Mullin added that the National Security Agency (NSA) is working with the Department of Homeland Security as part of the investigation. The outage appears to be affecting a telecommunications network managed by L3Harris Technologies, according to two airline officials. The network manages critical radio frequencies that air traffic controllers use to communicate with pilots. L3Harris did not respond to a request for comment.

Although the decision to suspend flights has been lifted, the disruptions for passengers have not ended yet. In many points from Boston to Seattle, from New York to Los Angeles, passengers filled the departure halls of airports and the counters of airline companies due to increasing delays and cancellations; Planes had to wait at the gates. Thousands of passengers had to spend the night at the airport.

Investors began to take positions, predicting that airline companies would suffer financial losses from this situation. Shares of American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines lost 1 percent to 2 percent in after-hours trading, while shares of JetBlue Airways fell nearly 3 percent.

American Airlines said it is giving priority to flights to smaller cities and international destinations outside its main hubs to reposition aircraft and crews to allow operations to return to normal more quickly.