U.S. air travel remained disrupted Sunday, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy saying a full recovery could take until Monday as aircraft and crews were still out of place after Friday’s ground stop.
FlightAware’s Sunday-morning tally showed 1,460 cancellations among flights serving the United States. Duffy told ABC News that conditions in the airspace should improve Sunday, but that returning aircraft and crews to their scheduled locations would take longer. Federal Aviation Administration chief Bryan Bedford had said travel would return to normal by Sunday’s close of business, AFP reported.
The Trump administration blamed the ground stop on a failed effort to replace copper communication cables used by air traffic control. In a CNN interview, Duffy also pointed to aging equipment, including radar dating to the 1960s, and called on Congress to provide $50 billion to modernize the system.
AFP reported that President Donald Trump blamed former President Joe Biden’s administration for the Federal Aviation Administration’s condition and urged Congress to approve modernization funding. Democrats said the Republican-controlled Congress could already have acted on upgrades, AFP reported.
Friday’s stoppage was the second such ground stop in U.S. airspace since the Sept. 11 attacks, AFP reported. Duffy’s Sunday forecast put a full return to normal a day later than Bedford’s earlier estimate.
