Sara Guglielmetti Chaos erupted in the skies over the United States, with a nationwide ban on takeoffs lasting more than four hours, disrupting tens of thousands of passengers. The causes of the disruption have been identified. Here are all the details.
USA: Total flight ban, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded
It was Black Friday in the US with nationwide flight disruptions lasting more than four hours.
Tens of thousands of passengers have been stranded. According to reports, more than 7.700 flights to and from the United States have been canceled in the past few hours, with another 2.000 scheduled for cancellation in the coming hours, as CNN reported , citing data from FlightAware . According to data, over 8.000 flights were delayed, while more than 300 will have their schedules changed today.
The emergency began around 15:54 PM Eastern Time (21:54 PM Italian time), with the first reports coming from Chicago airports, which then quickly spread to all airports across the country. The FAA ordered a grounding of all departing flights, citing "extraordinary circumstances and safety concerns . "
The planes already in flight were not forced to land immediately but were managed individually until they reached their destinations. The grounding has now been lifted and the cause is understood. Here are the details.
Total flight ban in the US, planes grounded for hours: causes discovered
After about four hours, the flight ban in the United States was lifted: “ We have identified the problem. Our centers and our transmissions are operational. So, at 4:8.15 tonight, Eastern time, we reopened the airspace ,” Secretary of State for Transportation Sean Duffy said during a press conference at the White House. “The reality is that we have an extremely obsolete air traffic control system. For a year now, the president has been asking Congress to fully fund the construction of a completely new air traffic control system. Currently, we use TDM telecommunications systems, that is, analog ones.” Duffy then blamed “ switches and routers that are really clogged with data ” for the stoppage and asked Congress to allocate $50 billion, calling it a “real emergency .” Without maintenance, he said, otherwise “it will continue to fail . ”