The nationwide FAA ground stop on Friday, which led to a cascade of flight cancellations and delays for millions of Americans, has led to questions about how and why something like that could happen.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has been making the rounds on TV news shows to explain what happened, and what needs to be done to fix the issue.
Duffy confirmed to CBS News host Margaret Brennan that the technical issue that caused the chaos occurred when contractor L3Harris was replacing old copper wire with fiber-optic wire at an FAA facility in Arkansas. Somehow, when the router was turned on, it (and another router in Texas) flooded the FAA’s network with traffic.
He said an investigation is ongoing to determine exactly what happened, and the routers have been sent for examination.
Duffy emphasized how obsolete the technology underpinning America’s air network is and that many nations around the world have modernized while we haven’t.
“It’s just the FAA [that’s] still using this really old telecom network that has to be updated, upgraded, and, I think, built brand new,” Duffy said, later adding that Congress has given the FAA $12.5 billion to make upgrades, but that much more is needed to fully modernize, including a new system and software.
Appearing on ABC News, Duffy emphasized that funding the modernization of America’s air network could be “the one great bipartisan bill that can pass in an era of great partisanship.”
“Everybody agrees, we want to have the best system in the world. We just need funding to get that done,” he said.
Secretary Sean Duffy calls increased funding to the Department of Transportation “the one great bipartisan bill that can pass in an era of great partisanship.” “Everybody agrees that we want to have the best system in the world. We just need funding to get that done.” https://t.co/pQYieFUIQS
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 15, 2026
Meanwhile, former State Department official Col. Steve Ganyard told ABC News that bringing the FAA into the 21st Century will take years — even if they received the full funds requested.
“It’s important to understand just how obsolete the FAA is,” Ganyard said. “We’re trying to take these copper wires, electrical signals, analog signals and make them work with optical fiber.”
“It’s not just a question of money. The modernization efforts of the FAA average about 13 years. So, even if that money got put into the FAA’s bank account today, it would be a decade at least before we see some of these things that need to be fixed and need to be modernized.”
ABC News contributor Col. Steve Ganyard breaks down the aftermath of Friday’s nationwide FAA ground stop — and how long fixing the system could take. https://t.co/d28IlxHzH3 https://t.co/pdqkM2wce2
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 15, 2026
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