US transportation secretary seeks US$10 billion for air traffic control overhaul

[WASHINGTON] US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he was seeking US$10 billion from Congress for the next phase of a massive effort to modernise America’s aging air traffic control system and reduce systemic flight disruptions.

Last year, Congress awarded US$12.5 billion for the project to replace outdated technology and boost understaffed air traffic control towers. Much of the new proposed spending is to develop new software that could help make air travel much more efficient, Duffy told Reuters in an interview.

“The real magic truly is the software to manage the airspace,” he said.

The FAA’s air traffic telecom system has been hit by a series of failures, including serious outages covering Newark airport traffic last year. The initial US$12.5 billion followed decades of complaints over airport congestion and flight delays due in large part to creaky technology and understaffed towers.

The FAA in March was twice forced to halt all traffic to the Washington area’s three airports for more than an hour because of issues with aging technology.

Duffy has requested more money for tower improvements and surface awareness technology. He has previously said he wants US$19 billion more, but is asking Congress for US$10 billion of that total.

Airlines often schedule traffic in excess of FAA capacity. Duffy noted he can look out 45 days and see schedules 50 per cent above capacity.

New software would allow the FAA to move flights to avoid delays. “This tool lets us see and then spread flights in a way that allows for way less disruption,” Duffy said. “We could fix this.”

A 2023 report said the FAA’s communications system has been outdated for years and it can no longer get spare parts for many systems. Of the FAA’s 138 air traffic control telecoms systems, 51 were unsustainable, a separate report said.

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At an event on Tuesday, Duffy said the FAA has already replaced nearly 50 per cent of all copper wires, converted 270 radio sites nationwide, installed new surface awareness systems at 54 airports and transitioned 17 towers to electronic flight strips.

“Rebuilding the infrastructure of our aviation system is not too big for America. We can actually get this done,” Duffy told an aviation audience.

The FAA said by the end of 2028, airports will have 5,000 new high-speed network connections on fiber, satellite and wireless, 27,000 new radios and 612 state-of-the-art radars. REUTERS