Kathmandu: The United States has lifted the flight restrictions imposed on Friday following a technical problem in the country’s air traffic control system. More than 13,000 flights were affected by the disruption. US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the technical issue had been identified and US airspace had been reopened. However, he said flight operations would not immediately return to normal and would resume gradually.
What Caused the Flight Disruption ?
According to Secretary Duffy, radar and communications problems occurred at air traffic control centers and tracking facilities across the country at around 3:36 p.m. Friday. The problem made it difficult to receive radar data and maintain communication with aircraft.
For safety reasons, authorities imposed a nationwide ground stop, requiring aircraft to remain on the ground. At the time, more than 3,500 aircraft were in the air, and all of them landed safely while following air traffic control instructions.
Not a Cyberattack, US Administration Says
US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the incident was not a cyberattack. He also said the disruption was not related to an outage in Microsoft’s systems. Initial investigations have found no indication that artificial intelligence caused the problem.
Aging Hardware Blamed
Secretary Duffy said the problem was caused by a failure in aging hardware used in the US air traffic control system. He said the Donald Trump administration has long been urging Congress to provide funding to build and upgrade a new air traffic control system.
This was reportedly the second nationwide suspension of US air services since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Previously, in January 2023, flights across the US were also disrupted after a malfunction in the FAA’s main computer system.
