Credit, REUTERS/Jim Vondruska
The service of exchanging copper cables for optical fiber in the US air control telecommunications system led to the mass suspension of flights on Friday (11/13), informed the country's Secretary of Transport, Sean Duffy, this Saturday (11/14).
At a press conference, Duffy explained that maintenance was being carried out to replace wires by a contracted company called L3Harris, a technology supplier.
"It was such an old cable that it was being discontinued," he says, adding that this work has been going on for many years.
According to the secretary, the American government is trying to find out whether the problem was caused by L3Harris' "incompetence" or by a failure in some equipment.
The U.S. government does not believe the outage was the result of a cyberattack, although investigations are still ongoing, Duffy said.
L3Harris has not yet commented on the system interruption. On its website, the company claims to be the "leading supplier" of communications systems for the world's most advanced airspaces, as well as weapons systems and command and control platforms.
The problem occurred when a router - network equipment that directs the flow of information - that was undergoing maintenance began to overload other air traffic control systems, creating communication problems with aircraft and leading the government to close the airspace for safety reasons, Duffy explained.
The reopening of American airspace occurred at 10:15 pm Brasília time. But Duffy recognized the ripple effect that would be caused, affecting flights in the coming days. "It will take some time to normalize the situation," he said on Friday.
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Between 4,000 and 5,000 of the 41,000 flights scheduled for this Saturday will likely be canceled, explained Bryan Bedford, who heads the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
In total, as of early Saturday afternoon, almost 6,000 flights within the United States or with origin/destination in the country were affected by cancellations or delays, according to flight monitoring website FlightAware.
The companies with the highest number of cancellations are Delta Air Lines, with 652 canceled flights, United Airlines, with 553, and American Airlines, with 520, says FlightAware.
Among the airports most affected by cancellations are Chicago O'Hare, Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta and John F. Kennedy in New York, according to the website.
Faced with the problem, the American government asked Congress to provide resources to modernize the American air traffic system, which it classified as "extremely old". For the renovation, US$50 billion (or around R$280 billion) would be needed, said Duffy.
Last year, Congress approved US$12.5 billion (or around R$70 billion) for modernizations, but much more is needed, explains BBC journalist Theo Leggett, who specializes in international business.
Friday's nationwide grounding of flights was only the second nationwide grounding of its kind in the United States since the days immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"This appears to be the worst episode since 9/11, although clearly not on the same scale," said Guy Gratton, professor of aviation at Cranfield University, in an interview with BBC Verify, the BBC's verification service.
Changing cables
Credit, REUTERS/Eric Lee
Asked why the change of copper cable systems was carried out during the day, and not at night, when there are fewer aircraft in the airspace, the Secretary of Transport declared that "if we don't make these updates, we will have a less safe system".
Duffy explained that the replacement was being carried out at a remote facility during the day. According to him, in larger centers, these changes usually occur at night and have a greater operational impact.
He further stated that the exchange carried out in this remote unit should not have caused the effects it ended up causing.
He added that until new infrastructure for air traffic control is built, the government will remain dependent on legacy telecommunications provider L3Harris, as the company owns the network currently in use.
Has the problem ever happened before in the USA?
The last time the US ordered a nationwide suspension of flights was in January 2023, when a failure hit the pilot notification system. Previously, this had occurred due to the attacks of September 11, 2001.
US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin assured reporters at the White House that Friday's order was not a "new 9/11." He stated that "the population should not be afraid at all."
"This is an interruption in telecommunications services," Mullin said. "Everyone is safe."
According to the secretary, the strike was not linked to the global failure of Microsoft services that began on Thursday (12/11). He also ruled out a cyber attack.
Credit, Reuters
What should passengers in Brazil do?
In Brazil, the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) did not say how many flights were affected, but said in a statement that it was monitoring the situation.
The largest in the country, the international airport of Guarulhos stated that it had received a security alert from the US Federal Aviation Command Center so that all air traffic originating from or destined for the US would remain on the ground until further notice, according to concessionaire GRU Airport.
According to Anac, passengers with scheduled flights should contact their respective airlines to check the status of their flight and whether there are any changes.
The agency stated that companies must frequently inform passengers about delays, cancellations and service interruptions, in addition to offering "free material assistance" in these cases, depending on the waiting time at the airport.
"For delays longer than 4 hours, cancellations and service interruption, the company must offer, for the passenger to choose, the options of: re-accommodation on another flight; full refund; and execution of the service by another mode of transport, as applicable", said Anac.
"We emphasize that reaccommodation is free and must occur, on your own flight or on another airline, at the first opportunity, that is, on a new flight whose date and time are closer to the delayed, canceled or interrupted flight."
"If this alternative is not convenient for the passenger, they can choose another flight, at a date and time of their convenience, but only from the airline itself and within the remaining validity period of the ticket", informs the agency's note.
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