New router may have caused major US aviation disruption

Government officials said on Saturday that a massive outage lasting nearly five hours in the US aviation system, which led to the cancellation and delay of more than 20,000 flights since Friday, may have been caused by a single router installed by government contractor L3Harris.

This incident is the latest painful example of the aging communications system used for US air traffic control, and the challenges of replacing old systems while keeping legacy communications running.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s old communications system has suffered outages in recent years due to fiber optic cuts, accidental file deletions, and even a strong chemical odor from a melting component. Officials warned that the system will continue to experience failures until it is properly upgraded.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday, “This was a Federal Aviation Administration system that did not rise to the challenge.”

Duffy added on Friday that L3Harris is conducting routine maintenance to switch communications lines from old copper wiring to fiber optics at at least one remote site. Officials told Reuters there may be issues with routers installed in Arkansas and Texas.

Duffy said, “We are working to determine whether this was a matter of incompetence—whether it was a user error, an installer error by L3Harris, or if they installed a faulty router. We have not yet identified the cause of the failure.”

L3Harris said it takes the matter seriously and is “supporting the FAA in its investigations to understand the circumstances that led to the nationwide flight stoppage on November 13.”

The company noted that more than 70 percent of the planned transition of airspace communications from old copper wiring to the fiber optic system has been completed.