US Proposes $50 Billion to Upgrade Air Traffic Control System
A radar and communications failure in the US air traffic control system prompted a nationwide pause in flight departures on November 13. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called on Congress to approve $50 billion in emergency funding to upgrade aging infrastructure. US airspace reopened that evening, but airlines needed more time to restore normal operations.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called on Congress on November 13 to approve a $50 billion emergency budget to upgrade the air traffic control system. A communications failure had affected the air traffic control center system, suspending flight departures at airports across the United States for several hours.
A flight information board at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, United States, on November 13, 2026.（VietVance）
At a White House news conference that evening, Sean Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration began detecting instability in its radar and communications systems at around 3:36 p.m. Eastern Time on November 13. Given the risks to aviation safety, the agency decided to suspend flight departures nationwide.
Sean Duffy said the failure involved some switching equipment, routers and data transmission systems. Some equipment and lines had been in use for decades, including copper lines installed in the 1980s. He said equipment newly installed under the modernization program had not experienced similar failures and argued that replacing aging infrastructure entirely would be more effective than continuing to repair it.
The Federal Aviation Administration reopened US airspace at around 8:15 p.m. Eastern Time on November 13, or around 8:15 a.m. on November 14 in Vietnam. Sean Duffy cautioned that airlines would still need time to resume operations and restore normal flight schedules. Figures compiled after 4 p.m. Eastern Time on November 13 by UK-based aviation analytics company Cirium showed that departure plans for about 11,000 flights carrying more than 1.5 million passengers had been affected.
Source: VietVance
