ATC overhaul funding push

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is asking Congress for another $10 billion to keep rebuilding the nation’s aging air traffic control system. (reuters.com) Duffy said on April 21 that the new request would fund the next phase of upgrades after Congress provided $12.5 billion last year for air traffic control technology and tower staffing. (rollcall.com) The Federal Aviation Administration says the project is meant to replace old radar, software, hardware and telecom networks, with a target of delivering a new system by the end of 2028. (faa.gov) Air traffic control is the system that separates planes in the sky and on the ground, and officials say old equipment now forces slowdowns when parts fail. The FAA said flight-delay minutes tied to equipment problems in 2025 ran about 300% above the 2010-2024 average. (faa.gov) The administration says some early work is already underway. The FAA said in December that it had converted about one-third of its copper communications network to fiber, satellite and wireless links and deployed 148 radios across facilities nationwide. (faa.gov) Duffy has also pitched artificial intelligence as scheduling software, not an automated controller. He told CBS News that AI could compare airline schedules with Federal Aviation Administration data as far as 45 days ahead to spot bottlenecks and shift some flights by minutes to reduce delays. (cbsnews.com) He said human controllers would keep final authority. “The final say, in anything we do, is going to be an air traffic controller,” Duffy told CBS News. (cbsnews.com) Lawmakers are not starting from scratch on the price tag. Roll Call reported in July 2025 that Duffy put the full overhaul at about $31.5 billion, and some Republicans later said they wanted more project details before approving another funding tranche. (rollcall.com; rollcall.com) For now, the pitch to Congress is narrower than a full reset: finish replacing the oldest systems, cut equipment-related delays and give controllers newer tools without taking them out of the loop. (govexec.com; cbsnews.com)