Push to modernize air traffic

The Trump administration is asking Congress for another $10 billion to speed up a rebuild of the U.S. air traffic control system. (transportation.gov, usnews.com) Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on April 21 that the money would fund the next phase of upgrades to aging radar, software, hardware and telecommunications networks. He told reporters the request is part of a broader overhaul meant to cut “systemic flight disruptions.” (usnews.com, transportation.gov) Air traffic control is the system that spaces planes in the air and on the ground, and much of the federal equipment behind it is old enough that the government has struggled to find replacement parts. The Department of Transportation said the rebuild would replace core systems and add new communications links, including fiber, wireless and satellite technology at more than 4,600 sites, plus 25,000 radios and 475 voice switches. (transportation.gov, usnews.com) The administration says Congress already provided $12.5 billion for the project, and officials used an April 21 “Modern Skies Summit” to argue that the first round is already producing visible changes. Department materials said the Federal Aviation Administration has replaced nearly half of its copper wiring, converted about 270 radio sites, installed surface-awareness systems at 54 airports and moved 17 towers to electronic flight strips. (transportation.gov, usnews.com) The push comes after repeated signs that the network is still fragile at major hubs. Reuters, via U.S. News, reported that in March the Federal Aviation Administration twice halted all traffic for more than an hour at the Washington region’s three airports because of aging technology problems. (usnews.com) Newark Liberty International Airport has been one of the clearest stress points. The Federal Aviation Administration has kept flight limits in place there through October 24, 2026, after earlier reducing operations because of staffing and equipment challenges, and later shifting the airport’s New York-Philadelphia communications link onto a new fiber-optic network to improve resilience. (faa.gov) The staffing side is still part of the story. On April 10, Duffy and Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Bryan Bedford announced the agency’s annual hiring window for air traffic controllers and said staffing had reached its highest level in six years, while also pushing a new recruiting campaign aimed at younger applicants. (transportation.gov) The timing also reflects how quickly local trouble can spread across the national map. AirHelp said more than 3,000 U.S. flights were delayed and more than 100 were canceled on April 20, with Atlanta and Chicago hit hardest as storms, controller shortages and heavy demand combined; the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Airspace System dashboard on April 23 was still warning of possible ground stops and route constraints in several regions. (airhelp.com, faa.gov) Duffy has said he once sought as much as $19 billion more, but is now asking Congress for $10 billion of that total. Whether lawmakers approve it will determine how fast the government can move from patching an old system to replacing it. (usnews.com, transportation.gov)