US has 3.5 thousand flights cancelled this Saturday after shutdown
On Friday, a general shutdown for about four hours in the US air sector cancelled or delayed nearly 15,000 flights
TL;DR
- More than 3,500 flights were cancelled on Saturday, and 1,333 were delayed, following a four-hour nationwide air traffic control system shutdown on Friday.
- The shutdown was caused by a data overload in the FAA's telecommunications systems, leading to a precautionary network shutdown.
- The US government estimates it could take days to return to full capacity, with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy emphasizing the need for technological renewal.
- The White House and Department of Transportation are formally requesting $30 billion from Congress to modernize airport infrastructure and air traffic control systems.
- The incident is the third major shutdown in the US this century, following events after 9/11 and a pilot warning system failure in January 2023.
- National Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin ruled out a foreign attack and stated the incident was unrelated to Microsoft service outages.