Duffy Seeks ATC Funding

Sean Duffy is asking Congress for another $10 billion to keep rebuilding the nation’s aging air traffic control system. (usnews.com) Duffy, the transportation secretary, said April 21 that the new money would fund the next phase of the overhaul after Congress provided $12.5 billion in July 2025. He told Reuters much of the added spending would go to software that can manage traffic more efficiently. (usnews.com) Air traffic control is the network of radars, radios, telecom lines and controller tools that keeps planes separated in the sky and moving on the ground. The Transportation Department said the existing system still relies on aging equipment, including old telecom infrastructure, and needs new hardware, software and communications networks. (transportation.gov) The administration says the first round of money is already paying for physical upgrades across the system. Federal officials said they have replaced nearly half of the copper wiring with fiber, converted about 270 radio sites, installed surface-awareness systems at 54 airports and moved 17 control towers from paper strips to electronic flight strips. (rollcall.com) The push comes after repeated breakdowns exposed how fragile the system remains. Reuters reported that the Federal Aviation Administration halted traffic twice in March at the Washington area’s three airports because of aging technology, and noted serious telecom outages that affected Newark traffic last year. (usnews.com) Duffy said the next phase is about the software layer — the digital tools that decide how aircraft are spaced and routed. He said those tools could let the Federal Aviation Administration spread flights more effectively and cut delays when airline schedules run above system capacity. (usnews.com) The department has tied the overhaul to a broader safety and staffing campaign. Roll Call reported that Duffy said the department has hired 2,400 air traffic control staff since March 2025, which he described as the highest staffing level in six years. (rollcall.com) The larger buildout is supposed to reach more than 4,600 Federal Aviation Administration sites nationwide. The Transportation Department said the full plan includes replacing 618 radars past their life cycle, adding 25,000 new radios, installing 475 new voice switches and building six new air traffic control centers for the first time since the 1960s. (transportation.gov) Congress now has to decide whether to fund the software phase on top of the infrastructure work already underway. Duffy said the goal is to have the software ready as the hardware build wraps up in about two and a half years, so the country can shift to what he called a “brand new system” by the end of 2028. (rollcall.com)