US air travel outage: Trump demands $50 billion
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Le Monde, La Nouvelle Tribune and BFMTV
The United States suspended all aircraft take-offs across the country on Friday, after a malfunction at regional air traffic control centres. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blames the outage on outdated equipment, while the Trump administration demands $50 billion, according to Le Monde.
The FAA has banned all take-offs from American airports until further notice, on Friday 13 November 2026. For several hours, aircraft were grounded, with few landings, thousands of flights disrupted and tens of thousands of passengers left in limbo on the eve of the weekend.
In a message posted on X, Sean Duffy explained the measure by a communication problem affecting all of the country’s air traffic control centres. Air traffic is gradually resuming after this suspension, which is extremely rare in the United States.
