US President Donald Trump has blamed the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden for a nationwide ground stop that disrupted domestic and international air travel. In his first comments on the issue, Trump called the Biden administration's aviation management a "disaster" and wrote on Truth Social: "Everything they touched turned bad. Big money spent unwisely, making an old and broken system worse than when they began."

The ground stop, which lasted about four hours, was declared on Friday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it followed maintenance work to upgrade an old copper wire to a high-speed fibre cable, which had caused "issues" with communication with planes and radar feeds. Airlines went on to cancel thousands of flights across the US on Saturday as they worked to recover from what was described as the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years.S1S2

Trump followed his initial post with a second, arguing that Congress must approve "desperately needed money" for air traffic control so the system can be rebuilt quickly. He said much of the current system is 50 years old and that the work should be completed all at once rather than "in drips and drabs." Duffy, for his part, appealed for $50 billion (€45.24 billion) to upgrade and modernise the air traffic control system and urged Congress to "meet this moment."S2

The response was sharply partisan. Illinois Governor and prominent Democrat JB Pritzker retorted on X: "Cut the crap," noting that Trump and Republicans have controlled Congress and could have funded the system. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called on Duffy to resign or be fired by Trump, writing that "we're fortunate no lives were lost." US lawmakers have called for investigations into what caused the disruption and whether the country is adequately secure from cyber criminality. Republican Senator Eric Schmitt said on X that the day showed the need to update the air traffic control system and rebuild airport infrastructure.S2