Efforts to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system are moving along with the support of funds provided in last year’s reconciliation law, but the Transportation Department will need even more money from Congress to finish the job, Secretary Sean Duffy said Tuesday.
Congress authorized $12.5 billion in funds to update the U.S. air traffic control system in the July 2025 reconciliation law, an amount Duffy said could help reduce the number of delays, cancellations and other complications in the aviation industry.
Since that law was implemented, the Transportation Department and the Federal Aviation Administration have replaced nearly half the copper wires in the nation’s air traffic control system with fiber optic cables, converted about 270 radio sites, installed new surface awareness systems for 54 airports and moved 17 towers from using paper to electronic flight strips, the agencies said Tuesday during a briefing at DOT headquarters. Other efforts they’re undertaking with the funds include a hiring surge of air traffic controllers and an overhaul of the more than 4,600 FAA sites across the country.
