Company L3Harris says it takes flight suspension in the US “very seriously”

A aerospace company L3Harris, identified as responsible for the failures in the air system that, on Friday, led to a temporary suspension of flights in the United States, said today that he takes the subject “very seriously”.

“L3Harris takes the suspension of departures at national level and their impact on travellers, airlines and air traffic operations very seriously”, said the company in a brief statement, quoted by the Spanish news agency, Efe, who also writes that L3Harris guarantees to be collaborating to “understand the circumstances that led to the suspension of departures” on Friday.

The company's statement comes after Transport Secretary Sean Duffy this morning pointed out faults in an obsolete air system and referred directly to L3Harris, suggesting as possible causes a human error, a failure to install the company or a product defect.

According to the secretary, the problem began when a L3Harris subcontractor performed routine maintenance to replace the old fiber optic copper wiring, which caused saturation in the air traffic control system.

L3Harris, which is the main supplier of the US air traffic control system, also said that it has been “modifying the communications infrastructure that supports the National Airspace System in close coordination with the FAA”, the acronym of the Federal Aviation Administration, and said that most of this work has already been completed.

“ With security and reliability as our main priorities, L3Harris, together with its telecommunications partners and FAA, has completed more than 70% of the planned conversion of airspace communications from traditional copper wiring to an optical fibre system.”, explained.

Sean Duffy, who holds a position equivalent to that of Minister of Transport in European governments, pointed out that the investigation seeks to determine “if there was incompetence, that is, whether it was a human error or a failure in the installation by L3Harris, or if a faulty router was installed”, and ruled out the possibility of a cyber attack, reiterating the government’s version.

The suspension of take-offs for several hours on Friday in the United States may lead to the cancellation of a total of 16,000 flights, today estimated the regulator, predicting that the operation will be regulated by the end of Sunday.

Paralyzing throughout the country was the first since January 2023, when a fundamental FAA computer system that sends notifications to pilots has failed, and the second since the attacks of September 11, 2001.