A dispatcher reported an aircraft had both of their transponders fail enroute. After discussing with...

Narrative:

Approximately 1 hour and 25 minutes into flight; crew sent ACARS advising that both transponders had failed. Flight was near zzzzz intersection. I contacted maintenance control to see if there was any advice they could provide; but there was not. Due to security concerns; I did not want to attempt overfly and if ATC would allow; a return back to ZZZZ would be best option. Crew concurred and flight turned around. I contacted ZZZZ and they approved the aircraft to re-enter airspace with no transponder.[the cause was] transponder failure.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Dispatcher reported an aircraft had both of their transponders fail enroute. After discussing with flight crew; they decided to turn around and return to the departure airport.

Narrative: Approximately 1 hour and 25 minutes into flight; crew sent ACARS advising that both transponders had failed. Flight was near ZZZZZ intersection. I contacted Maintenance Control to see if there was any advice they could provide; but there was not. Due to security concerns; I did not want to attempt overfly and if ATC would allow; a return back to ZZZZ would be best option. Crew concurred and flight turned around. I contacted ZZZZ and they approved the aircraft to re-enter airspace with no transponder.[The cause was] transponder failure.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1596684
Time
Date	201811
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	FO
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	McDonnell Douglas Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Transponder
Person 1
Function	Dispatcher
Qualification	Dispatch Dispatcher
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe

A dispatcher reported an aircraft had both of their transponders fail enroute. After discussing with flight crew; they decided to turn around and return to the departure airport.