US Transport Secretary announces reopening of airspace to navigation
صورة: وكالة الأنباء الكويتية (كونا)
Sean Duffy announces the lifting of the flight suspension following a communications system glitch.
Translated by Qiyas from كونا — Original source
Washington, Nov 14 (KUNA) -- U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the reopening of U.S. airspace after a multi-hour order halting all flights at American airports was lifted. In remarks to reporters Friday evening, Duffy said, “At 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time, we reopened the airspace.” He attributed the glitches that caused widespread disruption to air travel to “outdated equipment,” stating, “We are using an extremely old air traffic control system. For the past year, the president has been urging Congress to provide full funding to build an entirely new air traffic control system.”
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Marco Rubio confirmed that no cyberattack was behind the flight stoppage, noting that investigations are ongoing to determine all circumstances surrounding the incident.
U.S. aviation authorities had ordered a halt to all takeoffs from airports across the United States on Friday, citing a communications system failure affecting air traffic control towers. In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it had issued an order “to all U.S. airports nationwide to ground aircraft following a communications system issue affecting all air traffic control centers,” adding that “FAA technicians are working to verify the glitch.” (End) T.M.A.
