U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a midterm campaign rally at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida on Oct. 30, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Sunday made his first public comments about Friday’s nationwide ground stop by the Federal Aviation Administration, blaming the Biden administration for making an “old and broken” air traffic control system worse. Trump also urged Congress to approve more funding to modernize the system.
The ground stop lasted more than four hours Friday, disrupted flights nationwide, contributed to thousands of cancellations and delays, and affected hundreds of thousands of passengers.
“The Biden Administration was an FAA disaster,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “Big money spent unwisely, making an old and broken system worse than when they began.”
The president added that his administration has “the knowledge and plan for the Flight Control Systems,” but said that “we need Congress to give the money, FAST!”
Congress approved $12.5 billion for the FAA last year as part of a major tax and spending package. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said that the aging air traffic control system will need more funding for a broader overhaul.
The FAA said its equipment became unstable after a high volume of data flooded its network. The agency said contractor work at one site may be related and that the underlying cause remains under investigation.
Nationwide FAA ground stops are rare. Before the Nov. 2026 shutdown, the last two were after the Sept. 11 attacks and a brief FAA computer outage in January 2023.
