Pete Buttigieg joined a growing number of angry Democrats demanding answers from the Trump administration after an unexplained nationwide ground stop delayed or canceled thousands of flights Friday.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin described the hours-long halt affecting flights nationwide as a “national emergency,” warning that officials still did not have a complete explanation for what happened.
At least 8,200 flights arriving in or departing from the United States were delayed Friday, while nearly 7,500 were canceled, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.
Thousands more delays and cancellations were reported for Saturday.
Speaking at a Democratic convention in Denver, former Transportation Secretary Buttigieg poked fun at the performance of his successor, Sean Duffy.
“You can just write down the comic book asterisk swearing characters. I have questions,” Buttigieg told The New York Times when asked about the disruption.
The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor continued joking with attendees throughout the evening.
“I will be available in the hotel bar following the conference for anybody who needs to rebook their flights or get a refund, per your rights,” Buttigieg said.
Pete Buttigieg joined Democrats demanding answers after an unexplained ground stop caused widespread flight delays and cancellations Friday
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy briefs reporters on the FAA’s nationwide ground stop
Buttigieg also questioned why backup systems available to the department had failed to prevent such a widespread outage.
“It is not clear to me why that redundancy did not prevent an outage of this magnitude,” he told The Advocate.
Still, he praised career employees and defended the work carried out under his own administration.
“This should not be about politics. I am very much rooting for them to get this resolved as quickly as possible.”
Buttigieg was attending the “What’s Next” conference, where Democrats gathered to celebrate their gains in last week’s midterm elections and discuss how to use their new congressional majorities.
It was the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, when Buttigieg was transportation secretary.
He was among a wave of Democrats pressing the administration for an explanation.
“The safety of our skies is built on redundancies,” Wisconsin Senator Tammy Duckworth said in a statement.
Travelers wait at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia
At least 8,200 flights were delayed and nearly 7,500 were canceled in connection with the outage
“Whatever led to the nationwide ground stop will warrant a thorough and complete investigation.”
Representative Robert Garcia, the California Democrat who has urged administration officials and members of Donald Trump’s family to “lawyer up” as he prepares to chair the House Oversight Committee, said he was perplexed by the incident.
“This is quite disturbing and pretty extraordinary as an action taken. Whatever it is, I think it deserves as much transparency as possible,” he told MS Now.
“I urge the FAA and the Trump administration to make sure this never happens again,” liberal Congressman Ted Lieu told The LA Times.
“What just happened is enormously damaging to trust in our air system, and our air system is a vital component of our national economy.”
Before his primetime briefing from the White House, Representative Ro Khanna criticized Duffy and other officials for failing to provide more information.
“I don’t understand why they’re not just in front of the cameras holding a press conference, trying to explain to the American people what’s going on,” he told CNN.
Duffy said aging hardware had failed, triggering the nationwide ground stop. The halt was lifted shortly before 8:30 p.m. ET after a major communications outage.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin described the disruption as a “national emergency”
Trump administration officials said the system requires a complete overhaul and estimated the cost at $50 billion.
“I think the question for the American people is, do you want your Congress to fund this?” Duffy said. “President Trump has asked for the money.”
Duffy said instability in radar communications at air traffic control centers began at 3:36 p.m. More than 3,500 aircraft were already airborne when the ground stop was ordered.
According to flight-tracking service FlightAware, at least 8,200 flights arriving in or leaving the United States were delayed, while nearly 7,500 were canceled.
More than 1,700 cancellations had also been reported for Saturday.
The Air Traffic Control System Command Center said at 3:54 p.m. ET that flights were being halted immediately “due to extraordinary circumstances for safety reasons.”
The FAA said a temporary telecommunications outage had prompted the decision. “Out of an abundance of caution, all flights have been halted,” the agency said. “Every flight has been accounted for, and international flights will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”
The stoppage created immediate confusion for travelers. At many airports, departure boards continued to show flights as operating normally even as passengers were unable to board.
President Donald Trump was receiving regular updates on the situation, the Daily Mail understands.