Dagens Nyheter12 minutes agoWorld2 min read

Political battle over responsibility for the flight stop

The transport minister points to a faulty router or installation error at L3Harris

Quick Look

A five-hour flight shutdown in the US, the longest since the 9/11 attacks, was caused by telecommunications problems.
Transport Minister Sean Duffy suspects a faulty router or installation error at L3Harris, which swapped copper for fibre.
The shutdown led to millions of delays and cancellations, and has become a political bone of contention over the FAA's budget.

AI-generated summary

Why It Matters

The grounding lasted almost five hours and was the US's longest since the September 11 attacks in 2001. At the end of the grounding, only about 200 planes were in the air. L3Harris performed maintenance work at a remote facility to replace old copper wiring with fiber optic cables.

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The day after the telecommunications problems, which led to the longest US flight shutdown since the September 11 attacks in 2001, millions of passengers are facing delays and canceled flights. The standoff lasted almost five hours and by the end only about 200 planes were in the air.

According to Transport Minister Sean Duffy, it could be a faulty router or an installation or operating error by subcontractor L3Harris, which on Friday was carrying out maintenance work at a remote facility to replace old copper lines with fiber optic cables.

- Virtually all institutions in the United States have switched from copper to fiber. The FAA may be the last to undertake this work as the investments have not been made. Now we demand that L3Harris, or whoever supplied the router, do a better job, says Duffy on Saturday.

The minister repeats that the error was not due to an IT attack or AI.

At the same time, the flight stop has turned into a political issue. The Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, criticizes the Democrats for not having supported Donald Trump's "Big beautiful bill", where $12 billion was earmarked for the Federal Aviation Administration's FAA's outdated air traffic control system.

According to him, it is clear that air traffic control systems in the United States need a bigger budget, reports CNN.

Meanwhile, President Trump has yet to comment on the grounding, which Democrats have criticized.

Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee accuse the Trump administration of being "in deep water."

"Their incompetence, secrecy and carelessness put Americans in danger," they write on X.

Also Maga Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who previously sat in the House of Representatives and until this year was one of Trump's most loyal gunmen, has since criticized the president on several occasions.

On Saturday, she goes on X hard for Trump because in January 2023, when problems in the FAA's information system led to a brief grounding of flights, he called the United States a U country.

What to Watch

AI outlook — possibilities, not facts

Congress will debate a budget increase for the FAA's air traffic control system
Likely · Within weeks
L3Harris will be reviewed for its maintenance work
Possible · Within weeks

Open Questions

What was the exact cause of the telecommunications problem?
Will Trump comment on the grounding?
What concrete measures will be taken to prevent new stoppages?