The FAA Administrator, Bryan Bedford, says the ageing network behind US air traffic control will keep failing until it is replaced. He made the remark at a press conference with the Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, on Saturday 14 November, CNN reports.
"But let's not kid ourselves; it will continue to break until we replace it"
Bedford said the decades-old FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI) is not sustainable. He said the FAA will keep spending money to keep it running in the meantime. Axios and NBC News also carried the remark.
His warning matches Duffy's line on Friday that there will be more outages without new investment. Duffy said he wants $50 billion for the system.
Bedford said the conversion of the network from copper to fibre is about 70% complete, according to Seeking Alpha and CBS News.
Yahoo News notes that officials have not said whether daytime maintenance work will stop before Thanksgiving.