US President Donald Trump has blamed his predecessor Joe Biden‘s administration for the aviation disruption that began on Friday and continued to affect thousands of travellers over the weekend.In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump broke his silence on the disruption, urging Congress to approve billions of dollars for a major overhaul of the country’s air traffic control system. He also accused the Biden administration of leaving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the air traffic control network in a worse condition.Trump had largely stayed silent as the disruption unfolded from Friday afternoon, with passengers stranded at airports and the administration working with airlines to restore normal operations. On Sunday, he said the upgrades already under way should be completed in one push rather than through what he called “drips and drabs”.“If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, describing the existing system as around 50 years old. He promised it would become the “BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World”.The president also blamed the previous administration, accusing former president Joe Biden’s government of leaving the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the air traffic control network in a worse state. Biden had, however, signed an infrastructure law that allocated $25 billion to the FAA for airport improvements, control towers, terminal redevelopment and upgrades to the air traffic control system.
Funding fight over ageing infrastructure
The Republican-controlled Congress approved $12.5 billion for the FAA last year as part of a broader tax-cut package. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy has described that allocation as a down payment on a much larger modernisation programme and has continued to press lawmakers for additional funding.Duffy took the lead in explaining the disruption on Sunday, while the administration worked to identify the technical problem behind the ground stop.In a post on X, he said contractor L3Harris Technologies had recovered two routers from FAA facilities in Texas and Arkansas and was carrying out “deep diagnostics” on the equipment. Duffy has said the problem emerged during work to replace an old copper-wire section with fibre-optic cable, which somehow caused the system to overload.
Flights expected to return to full capacity
The immediate focus remained on restoring normal flight operations. Duffy told CBS that some delays were continuing, but said the system was expected to be running at full capacity by the end of Sunday or into Monday.A ground stop can leave aircraft and crew members out of position, making it difficult for airlines to resume normal schedules immediately even after the underlying disruption is addressed.“It takes a little bit of time for the airliners to get back” to full capacity and operation, Duffy said, adding that the recovery was well under way.