Cables Ground US Flights

Routine maintenance to replace copper cables with fiber-optic ones caused widespread disruption to U.S. aviation after a router overloaded a critical communications network, interrupting communication between control centers, towers, and aircraft. About 17 of the 22 centers were affected, with more than 1,000 calls recorded every five seconds. An estimated 21,000 flights were disrupted, while the Department of Transportation denied that a cyberattack was to blame. The incident highlights the age of air traffic control systems, some of which are 30–50 years old. Experts estimated that it could take at least two days for air traffic to return to normal after the fault was identified and repaired.

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