US Readying Plan to Overhaul Air Traffic Control, Duffy Says

The Trump administration plans to announce a “brand new” U.S. air traffic control system “in the next couple days,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.

Changes will include shifting from a copper communications infrastructure to fiber lines, as well as new radar systems and terminals for air traffic controllers, Duffy said Wednesday in an interview with Fox News.

“The key to this is speed,” he said. The problems with air traffic control are known, but it takes too long to make upgrades and then the technology changes, he said, adding that Congress “has to give us all the money up front.”

The comments come after weeks of mounting scrutiny of efforts to modernize the Federal Aviation Administration’s system that manages some 45,000 flights that carry about 2.9 million passengers each day.

The FAA last month began testing Starlink satellite internet terminals from Trump adviser Elon Musk’s SpaceX in parts of the FAA’s system, Bloomberg has reported.

Duffy last week separately said Verizon Communications Inc. was “not moving fast enough” on a $2.4 billion, 15-year contract to upgrade the FAA’s telecommunications network that supports the national airspace system. In February, Bloomberg News reported the FAA was considering whether to cancel the deal, though no decision had been made.

Prior administrations have also sought additional funding to modernize the air traffic control system. The Biden administration for fiscal year 2025 requested $8 billion over five years to replace aging facilities and upgrade radar systems. Congress, though, has yet to pass a 2025 appropriations bill for the Transportation Department. Currently there’s a stopgap measure in place to keep the government funded at roughly the current levels through Sept. 30.

Duffy hasn’t said exactly how much money he’ll seek for his plans. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz told reporters last week that there is interest from lawmakers to address the FAA’s modernization problems, but that he told Duffy “the answer cannot just be money alone.”

“Shoveling cash at this problem hasn’t worked in the past, and it needs to be accompanied with real and meaningful reform,” Cruz said.