The Trump administration said Sunday the air travel havoc triggered by a no-takeoff order could drag on for another day, pushing back its timetable for a return to normal.
Hundreds more flights were cancelled and questions remained over how such chaos could unfold in the world's largest economy, a country that prides itself on its technological prowess.
Officials blame Friday's huge snafu on faulty work to upgrade air traffic control communication cables.
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US President Donald Trump on Sunday ended uncharacteristic days of silence on the ground stop, but only to blame his predecessor Joe Biden for the debacle.
Trump insisted he inherited a mess from the Biden administration and said Congress, which his party has controlled for two years, must approve funds to upgrade America's outdated air traffic control system.
"The Biden Administration was an FAA disaster," Trump said, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Everything they touched turned bad. Big money spent unwisely, making an old and broken system worse than when they began," Trump asserted.
FAA chief Bryan Bedford had said Saturday that air travel for millions of Americans stranded at airports would return to normal by the close of business on Sunday.
