Sean Duffy Points to Contractor Work as Cause for Flight Stoppage

Thousands of travelers were stranded on Nov. 13, 2026, when the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all domestic flights in the U.S. because of what they said were failures in decades-old air traffic communications systems, The Conversation reported.

The four-hour nationwide flight stoppage paralyzed travel schedules and forced airlines to halt departures while flights already aloft landed.

President Donald Trump blamed aging FAA equipment for the nationwide flight outage, remarking on “old broken stuff” in reported comments to Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy, The Independent reported. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pointed to a contractor replacing old copper wire with new fiber optic cables as the trigger for the system overload.

UPDATE: We spoke with the CEO of L3Harris, and the contractor secured the two routers from the remote FAA facilities in Texas and Arkansas. L3Harris is now conducting deep diagnostics testing at their headquarters in Florida. @FAANews, Juniper, and Cisco engineers are assisting… pic.twitter.com/pdzx6qVZSf

— Post by @SecDuffy on X

“Our contractor didn’t meet the moment,” Duffy said.

Blaming Prior Administrations

The Trump administration on Sunday blamed prior presidents and a lack of congressional funding for the travel chaos, while Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland criticized how the administration has managed existing funding, The Guardian reported. Trump claimed in social media posts that the previous administration left behind broken infrastructure.

“The Biden Administration was an FAA disaster. Everything they touched turned bad,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, according to The Guardian. He added that the administration needs Congress to approve money fast for flight control systems.

Duffy defended the administration’s speed and handling during interviews on Sunday. He told CBS News’ Face the Nation that the maintenance work had occurred thousands of times without issue before this incident.

“This has never happened,” Duffy argued, according to The Guardian. “That’s why when you have a remote location like this, we felt comfortable doing it in the middle of the day because it’s been done thousands of times.”

Disputing Available Funds

Democratic lawmakers pushed back against the administration’s demands for new cash, pointing to a recent federal spending package that already provided substantial resources. Of the $12.5bn given to the agency under a Republican spending bill, $4.75 billion was allocated for telecommunications infrastructure modernization, according to Yahoo News Singapore.

There is a pot of 60 billion extra dollars on top of the regularly appropriated amount for ICE and we should use at least a portion of that money for the FAA. We can solve this problem and not spend any additional taxpayer dollars.

— Post by @brianschatz on X

Duffy countered that the existing funds are too limited in scope to fix the underlying structural problems. He argued that the money cannot build new software or replace outdated towers from the 1990s.

“I have no money in that $12.5bn that I can use for a new architecture for telecom,” Duffy said. “I can’t build new software to manage our airplanes in the airspace because it dates back to the 1990s, but there’s no money for that.”

Van Hollen challenged the administration’s requests during an appearance on CNN, arguing that officials need to justify why they need more money when unspent funds remain, Yahoo News Singapore reported. Outgoing House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News that Republicans would work to add FAA funding to an upcoming legislative package.

Contractors and Unions Respond to Router Failure

The contractor involved is conducting diagnostic testing to determine the exact failure point, according to The Guardian. Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (Pass), the AFL-CIO labor union representing more than 11,000 FAA workers, said that its technicians were not involved in the midday router updates.

“With a brand new state of the art system, we wouldn't have these outages… At 8:15 tonight, eastern time, we've opened up the air space…" Secretary Mullin & Secretary Duffy provide an update on the FAA National Ground Stop. pic.twitter.com/twTyQ9UJQ0”

— Post by @WhiteHouse on X

“The issue was isolated to two contractor owned and maintained routers that were being updated midday,” the union said in a statement reported by The Guardian. The union also called for better staffing and specialized training for certified professional technicians handling new equipment.

Duffy cited a Government Accountability Office report published in September 2026 that detailed the urgent need to modernize air traffic control systems. When questioned about whether the agency prioritized speed over safety, Duffy maintained that the modernization effort is proceeding at the right speed.

You’ve literally controlled Congress for the past two years. And apparently, there’s always been money for vanity projects. But none to fix our air traffic control system? Perhaps Trump should prioritize aviation safety over his pathetic Arch. https://t.co/MiiasllRiM

— Post by @SenDuckworth on X

Frequently Asked Questions About the FAA Outage

What caused the nationwide ground stop?

Officials traced the disruption to two contractor-owned routers being updated midday as part of a telecommunications upgrade replacing old copper wires with fiber optic cables. The new technology overloaded antiquated equipment, creating intermittent communications and radar gaps across 22 regional air traffic control centers.

Are federal funds already available for FAA upgrades?

Congress previously allocated $12.5 billion to the agency under a multi-year spending package, including $4.75 billion designated for telecommunications and system modernization. The administration maintains that these funds are too restrictive for complete software and tower overhauls, while Democrats argue the agency must fully account for existing unspent funds before receiving more.

FACT CHECK: Secretary Duffy says Congress didn’t fund air traffic control. Republicans’ own bill gave ICE $75 BILLION. Air traffic control got $12.5 billion. There’s money. It’s a question of priorities. pic.twitter.com/fT9OXbDiJz

— Post by @RepFriedmanCA on X

Was a foreign cyberattack involved in the disruption?

Federal officials, including Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, repeatedly stated there was no indication of a foreign cyberattack or nefarious activity.

When did the FAA lift the ground stop?

The agency lifted the four-hour nationwide ground stop on Friday evening, allowing planes already in the air to land while gradually restoring normal departing flight schedules over the weekend.

The FAA-mandated ground stop has been lifted and we are safely resuming flights. We encourage you to check the Delta app or https://t.co/19TGEJUCaj for flight status and the latest updates. Thank you for your understanding as we work as quickly as possible to fully restore…

— Post by @Delta on X