The suspension of aircraft takeoffs throughout the United States for almost five hours has caused a situation of air chaos throughout the country, with thousands of cancellations and delays, which Donald Trump's Government has attributed to a failure in air communications due to the obsolescence of these systems.
"It is an old system that has collapsed. It has been blocked everywhere. It has been overloaded," justified the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, in a press conference from the White House when referring to the equipment still used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The Secretary of Transportation has explained that older telecommunications routers suffered from data overload, creating technical inconsistencies that led the FAA to suspend takeoffs as a precaution.
"None of the new equipment we have installed has failed. It is exclusively the old legacy equipment that has been there forever," criticized Duffy, who has already warned that this system "will continue to fail."
For this reason, the breakdown has led the White House to demand $30.1 billion from Congress to modernize air infrastructure to avoid new interruptions, while the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, has assured that the suspension of aircraft takeoffs was decided as a precaution and that "there were never any lives at risk" nor are there signs of a cyber attack.
More than 6,600 flights canceled
The national suspension of takeoffs has paralyzed air operations in the United States for almost five hours and has caused thousands of cancellations and delays at the country's main airports.
More than 6,600 flights had been canceled as of 9:30 p.m. ET on Friday (3:30 a.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 14), according to FlightAware. These alterations will extend into the weekend, with around 1,500 cancellations expected for Saturday.
More than 3,500 aircraft were in the air when the FAA ordered takeoffs stopped. The disruption also affected international connections and cargo operations.
At airports like New York's JFK, passengers faced long lines to change their reservations and retrieve their luggage.
Mullin explained that the decision was made "out of an abundance of caution" given the communications failure.
An overloaded communications network
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has explained that a data overload in the FAA's telecommunications systems caused inconsistencies in the information transmitted by the routers, leading authorities to shut down the network as a preventive measure.
"We have been able to apply solutions to reduce the overload on our switches, which has allowed us to restore the networks' operation," Duffy detailed.
The secretary has described the incident as a problem of old infrastructure, which has not been renovated since 1980, and which did not withstand the load of new technological upgrades.
"The solution we applied gives us a pretty clear indication that it was a problem with an old network that stopped working," he said. Likewise, Duffy has warned that current equipment will continue to fail if it is not replaced.
There are no signs of a cyber attack
For his part, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, has assured that the authorities had found no evidence of a computer attack against the communications systems that caused the suspension, although he has avoided completely ruling it out.
"There are no signs of suspicious activity. We have not found traces or identification of people who have accessed the system. Apparently, everything was an automated process," he said.
Asked by journalists whether they could say with complete certainty that it was not a cyberattack or an artificial intelligence intervention, he responded: "Right now nothing is certain. It doesn't seem like that."
The Secretary of Homeland Security has also ruled out a relationship between the FAA ruling and the problems recorded in Microsoft Outlook the previous day. "There is no reason to relate those two things," he stated during the appearance.
They ask Congress for funding to renew the network
Following this incident, the Trump Administration has asked Congress for another $30.1 billion to modernize air control systems, replace control towers and renew airport facilities.
The official request includes 10.1 billion for air traffic control systems, 2 billion for towers and 18 billion for airport infrastructure, including 10 billion for terminals. During the hearing, Duffy claimed up to $50 billion.
The secretary has repeatedly criticized Congress for not allocating more funds to air infrastructure. "I can't build things if I don't have money," he said.
Congress had already approved an allocation of $12.5 billion in July 2025 to begin technological renewal. However, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a legislative oversight body, warned in September that the FAA still lacked a complete cost estimate and an integrated timeline for executing the project.
Slow recovery of air traffic
The FAA lifted the suspension at 8:15 p.m. local time on Friday (2:15 a.m. Spanish peninsular time on Saturday, November 14), but the resumption of takeoffs has not meant an immediate return to normality.
The accumulation of cancellations and the movement of aircraft and crews away from their usual positions have prolonged the alterations in flights during this weekend. In this sense, Duffy has warned that the recovery at US airports would be gradual.
For its part, Delta airline announced that it had resumed all its scheduled flights, but has recommended passengers check the status of their journeys before going to the airport.
