Trump says aging FAA equipment may be behind nationwide US flight suspension

During the broadcast, the correspondent Peter Doocy said he had spoken with Trump by phone. During the conversation, the US leader indicated that the suspension of aircraft departures was not related to a cyberattack or artificial intelligence.

The White House chief suggested that the cause was outdated equipment.

Trump said that, most likely, the situation is related to a large amount of old, faulty equipment in the infrastructure that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) relies on to keep planes in the air. He said some of this equipment is about 55 years old, but it is still supposed to work and function, the journalist said, citing Trump's remarks.

The president also added that the need to replace the equipment had already been discussed with Congress, but this has still not happened.

The correspondent said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had attended an event but had now returned to the White House. Peter Doocy explained that this does not usually happen at such a late hour.

They are bringing the entire team together to make sure the president has accurate information and can determine the next steps, he added.

Later, the FAA lifted the ban on aircraft departures. Air traffic is now resuming, and a briefing by government officials is expected at the White House.

What happened before

On November 13, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that aircraft departures were being suspended nationwide. The measure was taken for safety reasons.

Media reports indicated that an outage had affected both air traffic control radars and radio frequencies. Later, media outlets reported that the outage had been caused by a problem with network routers, with Chicago being the first area affected.

More than 10,000 flights were delayed because of the incident.