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The White House34 min

Secretary Mullin and Secretary Duffy Brief Members of the Press on the FAA Ground Stop

Mullin, Duffy, Mark Wayne, Peter

Press Conference, Statement
  • Operations are expected to return to normal at some point after the current issue is resolved, with a focus on moving passengers disrupted over the last eight hours to their destinations.
  • The administration anticipates far better flight movements starting the following day and expects general aviation operations to resume by the weekend, prioritizing aircraft carrying 60 to 100 passengers over smaller movements such as football teams.
  • The FAA expects full operational capacity during the Thanksgiving travel period, with plans to accommodate students flying home the following Friday and to facilitate medical and law enforcement flights.
  • A direct hotline has been established for the public to request medication supplies, with FEMA activated to ensure critical resources reach passengers and communities without interruption.
  • The administration plans to replace the outdated air traffic control system, which relies on 1980s technology and 1970s radar with obsolete parts, with a new network featuring new hardware, software, and telecommunications.
  • The administration requests an additional $30 billion to $50 billion from Congress to fully replace the system, noting that $12.5 billion included in existing legislation is expected to complete its portion of the build by the time President Trump leaves office.
  • The administration states that new IP switches and hardware deployed under the current leadership did not fail, attributing the current outage to legacy equipment overload and structural issues in 100-year-old towers.
  • Without full Congressional funding for the emergency bill, the administration warns that the TDM network will continue to face catastrophic failures and recurring outages similar to those in Newark and New York.
  • The administration plans to use temporary software patches to reduce switch overloading while awaiting full system funding, though a complete overhaul is deemed the only viable long-term solution.
  • The administration expects that the "SMART" system is disconnected from legacy systems and could not have caused the current outage, while maintaining that a cyber attack cannot be fully ruled out pending further investigation.
  • The administration expects to convince Congress of the FAA's trustworthiness to secure the requested emergency funding, acknowledging that the current crisis underscores the national security risk posed by the vulnerable legacy network.
  • The administration asserts that a fully funded new system will prevent future outages, eliminate the need for press conferences regarding shutdowns, and provide connectivity speeds comparable to private networks.
  • The administration expects that if the requested funding is not provided, the country will continue to face increased risk and safety degradation rather than improvements.
  • The administration plans to invest in new air traffic control towers and airports across the country to improve conditions and prevent future operational crises.