US aviation shutdown may have been due to a faulty router, Trump admin says

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The nationwide disruption was only the second time such a ground stoppage had been issued in US airspace since the 9/11 attacks.

A massive, nearly five-hour shutdown of the US aviation system that disrupted more than 20,000 flights may have been the fault of a single router installed by government contractor L3Harris.

The incident is the latest painful example of the ageing US air traffic control ‌telecom system and the struggles to replace systems while keeping the old communications working.

In recent years, the Federal Aviation Administration's ageing systems have failed after errant fibre cuts, accidental file deletions, and a strong chemical smell caused by a melted component. The system will fail again until it is properly upgraded, government officials said.

"This was an FAA system that didn't meet the moment," US transportation secretary Sean Duffy said ‌on Sunday AEDT.

Duffy said on Friday L3Harris was conducting routine maintenance to switch telecommunication lines from old copper wire to fibre at at least one remote location.

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Officials told Reuters news agency there may have been problems with routers installed in both Arkansas and Texas.

"We're working to determine whether we had incompetence, meaning was it user error or installer error from L3Harris, or did they install a faulty router? We haven't determined what the fault was," Duffy said.

L3Harris said it took the issue seriously and was "supporting the FAA in its investigation to understand the conditions that led to the 13 November ground stop ‌of our nation's air travel".

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