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Aviation industry expert Subhash Goyal on Saturday observed that the recent temporary nationwide ground stop in the United States, caused due to the ageing of the air traffic control (ATC) communications systems, will likely have a ripple effect across the world as imports, exports and travellers reel from its impact.
Speaking exclusively to ANI on the recent flight disruption, which has been described as one of the largest in US history, Goyal ruled out a cyber attack as the cause. "The US Government, Homeland Security and other agencies have done a detailed investigation. According to them, their whole communication system was overloaded because it was an old system. They have denied it was either a cyber attack or linked to the glitch in the Microsoft cloud network," he said. Calling the failure "very serious," Goyal said the entire air traffic control system was affected, leaving no flight able to take off or land. American broadcaster CNN reported that more than 15,000 US flights were either delayed or cancelled on Friday (local time), and about 3,000 are expected to be delayed or cancelled on Saturday. It further reported that domestic US flights are being allowed to depart again. "The good news is that right now the systems are working and whatever glitches were there have been resolved, and flights are normal," Goyal added. Addressing the broader global repercussions, Goyal emphasised the interconnected nature of global aviation and trade. "If America sneezes, the whole world gets a cold," he said. He explained that any disruption in the US affects the entire supply chain, impacting exports, imports and students who are scheduled to travel. "Any disruption in America disrupts the entire supply chain mechanism, and that is the reason that a lot of exports, imports and a lot of students who are to reach, so it disrupts the entire movement because America being the largest economy in the world, I think every country gets affected one way or the other," he observed. On the impact on India, he said Indian passengers were stranded as well. "Indian passengers did get stranded. They are in Indian flights, United Airlines flights, other Middle East carriers- Emirates, Etihad, Qatar. So a lot of passengers were stranded at Delhi airport, at Dubai airport, at Abu Dhabi airport... But now I think things have cleared and situation has come back to normal." Responding to a question on whether the industry has discussed reforms to address ageing equipment and old technology, Goyal said industry leaders have no role to play, as air traffic control and all airport activities are controlled by government agencies. In the US, this is the Federal Aviation Administration, while in India it is the Airports Authority. The Aviation expert said that the glitches have now been resolved and flight operations have returned to normal, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is completely overhauling its infrastructure to install new systems. His remarks come as the United States faced one of the rarest nationwide ground stoppages of flights since the January 11, 2024 and September 11, 2001, attacks, Fox News reported. Meanwhile, earlier, Secretary of the Department of Transportation Sean Duffy said that the nationwide ground stop happened because the air traffic control system is operating on "decades-old analog equipment that simply cannot compete with the demands of the 21st century." He said that while the FAA was modernising the ageing infrastructure, "thanks to a $12.5 billion down payment secured by President Trump", the Secretary termed it not enough and urged Congress to pass the Modern Skies Act that would give them the resources to build a "state-of-the-art air traffic control system". (ANI)
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