50-yr old critical FAA air traffic control systems “unsustainable,” US Transportation Sec. says
The US Department of Transportation, backed by the Trump administration, is planning a complete and radical overhaul of the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure, including new telecommunications and radar systems.
Andres Kudacki/Getty Images
The US Department of Transportation, backed by the Trump administration, is planning a complete and radical overhaul of the nation’s aging air traffic control infrastructure, including new telecommunications and radar systems – all triggered by January’s deadly mid-air collision over the nation’s capital, and this weeks eight day free-fall at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a new 3.2 billion in grants on Tuesday, many for technology upgrades at various airports nationwide. Still, Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), which serves the ultra-busy New York City metro area and has been forced to cancel hundreds of flights this week, is nowhere on the list.
That’s because US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Tuesday he and President Trump will soon be introducing a plan to “radically transform” and replace the entire outdated Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air traffic control system with a brand new one – one that Duffy said will be the “the envy of the world.“
The revamp, which Duffy said will include "new telecom, new radar, and new infrastructure" will be announced this coming Thursday.
The President and I are going to radically transform air traffic control. That means building a brand new system that is the envy of the world.
undefined Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) May 6, 2025
Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/wlhQDbMMMY
FAA failed to overhaul 50-year-old systems
Duffy began posting a slew of scathing posts on X this week, slamming the Biden administration for ignoring the need for a critical technology overhaul of the entire national airspace system.
On Tuesday, Duffy posted several damning excerpts from a 20-page December 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealing that the FAA has been slow to modernize some of the most critical and at-risk systems.”
“When considering age, sustainability ratings, operational impact level, and expected date of modernization or replacement for each system, as of May 2024, the FAA had 17 systems that were especially concerning,” it said.
And overall, Duffy noted the watchdog warned more than a third of America’s 138 air traffic control (ATC) systems were “outdated, unsustainable, and lack spare parts.”
The GAO identified at least 17 dangerously unsustainable systems “critical to the safety and efficiency of the national airspace.” Those ATC systems were said to range “from as few as 2 years old to as many as 50 years old.”
Duffy irately pointed out the lack of urgency to modernize the failing systems - with some planned for completion at least a decade into the future.
More than 100 systems declared questionable at best were found to have “critical operational impacts on the safety and efficiency of the national airspace.” pic.twitter.com/la3SdaQ3CO
undefined Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) May 6, 2025
Air traffic control tech failures rampant
The Secretary’s vitriol stems from a fatal January 29th mid-air collision between a US military Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet about to land at Reagan International Airport just outside of Washington, D.C.
Problems with air traffic control communications were found to be a contributing factor in the crash, which left no survivors, resulting in the death of 64 airline passengers and crew, and three US military members.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of other close calls between commercial and military flights have been highlighted by FAA investigators – including one involving a Black Hawk helicopter and two commercial flights just days ago – leading to new restrictions on the airspace over Reagan Airport.
That’s besides the now eighth day of flight cancellations causing chaos at Newark Liberty International Airport due to a shortage of air traffic control staff and reported tech failures.
Owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Newark Airport serves more than 45 air carriers with close to 1,200 daily arrivals and departures to domestic and international destinations.
“The technology that we are using is old. That’s what is causing the outages and delays we are seeing at Newark,” Duffy posted on X earlier this week. “If we don’t act, we will start to see these issues across the national airspace. That’s why I’m announcing a plan next week to build an all-new air traffic control system," he said.
Last week, Trump named IBM and Raytheon Technologies as the top contenders for a governemnt contract to modernize the ATC system.
Verizon, meanwhile, has already been awarded a $2.5 million, 15-year contract to help upgrade the FAA's ATC systems back in 2023. Under the FAA Enterprise Network Services (FENS) program, Verizon will be tasked with the design, build, security, and integration of the entire FAA network infrastructure.
The US government, which is also looking at Elon Musk’s Starlink, in March said it would take multiple technologies and companies to help overhaul the system.
You may experience delays and cancellations at @EWRairport due to a combination of @FAA staffing shortages, @FAA equipment issues, and wind conditions.
undefined Newark Liberty International Airport (@EWRairport) May 1, 2025
Please check your flight status with your airline before heading to the airport. pic.twitter.com/hkLNRgc1Uc
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby put out an official statement to the public on Friday addressing the industry-wide turbulence, with a focus on Newark.
“For many years, United has been very clear and vocal about the need to fix the Air Traffic Control system in EWR,” Kirby said, noting that “the long-simmering FAA challenges boiled over this week.”
“In the past few days, on more than one occasion, technology that FAA air traffic controllers rely on to manage the airplanes coming in and out of Newark airport failed - resulting in dozens of diverted flights, hundreds of delayed and canceled flights and worst of all, thousands of customers with disrupted travel plans,” Kirby wrote.
The tech failures Kirby is referring to are connected to an April 28th harrowing incident where EWR air traffic controllers lost communications with the planes they were in charge of for 30 seconds – meaning they were "unable to see, hear, or talk to them." The incident had left many ATC workers traumatized, causing many of them to walk off the job.
In his statement, Kirby praised the “highly skilled professionals at the FAA, including air traffic controllers, who are persevering through technology and staffing shortfalls to ensure that the tens of thousands of people traveling through Newark every day get to their destinations safely.”
He further acknowledged United’s cancellation of 35 roundtrip flights per day At Newark Airport due to the challenges.
As for the DOT's $3.2 billion in infrastructure grants announced on Tuesday, 36 out of the 180 projects approved are slated for FAA airport improvements and terminal programs.
Included on the grant list are Washington Dulles International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which experienced a major ransomware attack on its tech infrastructure in 2024.
About 40 other transportation projects include some sort of Smart technology adoption, including Smart curbs and traffic signal systems in Minnesota, avalanche mitigation alert detection systems in Alaska, and AI-driven road infrastructure monitoring in Virginia.