US Travel Industry Urges Congress to Take Action Following Nationwide Ground Stop

The U.S. Travel Association is joining the push to invest in the nation's aging air traffic control infrastructure following Friday's historic nationwide ground stop, resulting in thousands of flight delays and cancellations.

“What we have is an incredibly old air traffic control system. I think every single one of your networks has covered the President and myself talking about this for the last two years," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Friday, the same day the Trump administration renewed its push for an additional $30.1 billion from Congress.

"The president for the last year has been asking Congress to fully fund a full build of a brand new air traffic control system...It's the old hardware that went down," said Duffy.

U.S. Travel President and CEO Geoff Freeman joined White House officials in urging lawmakers to act on the latest funding proposal.

"Secretary Duffy is absolutely correct about the funding and focus needed to build the world-class aviation system Americans deserve," Freeman said in a statement on Saturday. "Yesterday’s nationwide ground stop is yet another clear signal that the Federal Aviation Administration lacks the resources necessary to modernize America’s aging aviation infrastructure."

"The travel industry urges Congress to promptly pass Senator Eric Schmitt’s Modern Skies Act before the end of this Congress," added Freeman.

"We thank the air traffic controllers, airlines and airports for putting safety first, managing this extraordinary disruption and helping travelers through the crisis. We also commend Secretary Duffy and other congressional leaders for their commitment to addressing this national challenge," he concluded.

"Let's not do a patchwork fix to a system that's critical for every single family. It's not red, it's not blue, it's not Democrat, it's not Republican, it's American. Give us the money to fix it," said Duffy. 

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