Trump breaks silence on US flight chaos, seeks funds for air control fix

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Donald Trump addressed the nationwide ground stop and urged Congress to fund air traffic control upgrades. The disruption intensified calls to replace ageing aviation infrastructure.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday broke his silence on the nationwide ground stop that disrupted air travel across the United States over the weekend, using the incident to demand more funding from Congress to overhaul the country's ageing air traffic control system.

Trump said his administration had begun upgrading the system but argued that the work needed to be carried out on a much larger scale rather than through piecemeal funding. He urged Congress to approve additional money, claiming the upgrades could be completed quickly and efficiently with adequate financial support.

The Republican president had remained conspicuously silent on the ground stop since it began on Friday afternoon. While frustrated passengers were left stranded at airports and his administration worked with airlines to restore normal operations, Trump had continued posting on social media about unrelated issues.

In a post on his social media platform on Sunday, Trump said much of the country's existing air traffic control infrastructure was around 50 years old and needed urgent replacement.

"If Congress approves the desperately needed money for Air Traffic Control, we can get it built quickly and efficiently," Trump wrote. He added that the US would have the "BEST SYSTEM anywhere in the World".

In a separate social media post, Trump blamed his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, for the condition of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the country's air traffic control infrastructure.

He accused the Biden administration of making an already ageing and broken system worse during its tenure.

However, Biden had signed a major infrastructure bill into law during the first year of his presidency. The legislation allocated USD 25 billion to the FAA for airport improvements, upgrades to air traffic control towers, redevelopment of airport terminals and strengthening the foundation of the country's air traffic control system, according to the FAA.

Last year, the Republican-controlled Congress…

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