Speaker Johnson Says No Investigation Needed Into FAA Ground Stop, Calls for Investment Instead

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Saturday that the ground stop issued by the Federal Aviation Administration a day earlier does not warrant an investigation, arguing the focus should instead be on funding upgrades to outdated equipment.

Speaking during an interview on Fox News's Saturday in America, Johnson said, 'We don't really need any investigation .. we need further investment.' He pointed to the age of the systems involved, saying, 'I mean, some of this equipment dates back to the eighties so it's gotta be updated and that's our responsibility. We're gonna work to get it done.'

The FAA imposed the nationwide ground stop at around 4 p.m. EST on Friday, and the rare protocol remained in effect for more than four hours. The agency's last widespread stoppage occurred in January 2023 and lasted roughly 90 minutes.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed during a White House press briefing Friday night that the stop was lifted at about 8:15 p.m. He attributed the disruption to an overload of data on routers, while Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the 'public was never in danger in this process.'

At the Friday night briefing, officials pressed for a multi-billion-dollar effort to modernize what Duffy described as an 'incredibly old' air traffic control system. 'Let's not do a patchwork, a fix to a system that's critical for every single family,' Duffy said, adding, 'I want $50 billion.'

Duffy had already asked Congress in September for $30 billion to pay for new technology, control towers and airport improvements across the country.

In a press briefing Saturday morning, Duffy said a telecommunications line switch by a contractor may have triggered Friday's stoppage. He noted that contractor L3Harris had been replacing an older copper wire with a new fiber cable.

The fallout for travelers continued into the weekend. More than 4,500 flights within, into or out of the United States were delayed as of Saturday afternoon, with over 5,000 canceled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Total reported delays on Saturday surpassed 15,000.