Air travel in and out of the United States restarted on Saturday after a nationwide ground stop, the longest since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Even with planes flying again, passengers should expect delays and cancellations to continue for several more days.

At a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the air traffic control system “remains stable.”

What caused the shutdown?

Duffy said the problem began during maintenance work to replace old copper wiring in the system. What went wrong during the switchover is still not clear. Duffy said officials don’t yet know whether the contractor, defense company L3Harris, made mistakes or whether the equipment itself was faulty.

Reporters asked why such important work was done in the middle of the day. Duffy said the upgrade was needed for safety and that the switchover should never have caused this much disruption.

Was it a cyberattack?

No, according to officials. The government says it is “very comfortable” that the failure was a technical problem and not an attack.

How many flights were hit?

The numbers are huge:

• About 20,000 flights were affected on Friday
• The FAA managed to get 8,000 of them back on track that day
• Another 4,000 to 5,000 flights are expected to be disrupted on Saturday

What passengers can do

If your flight was affected, Bedford said you should either be rebooked on another flight or get a full refund. Check your airline’s app or website before going to the airport, because schedules may keep changing over the next few days.

A push for more money

Duffy and FAA officials used the press conference to ask Congress again for more funding to modernize the country’s air traffic control system. They argue that much of the equipment is outdated and needs urgent upgrades to prevent failures like this one.

Source: BBC News