Trump Unveils Plan To Modernize Air Traffic Control: Long Overdue!

We all know that air traffic control in the United States is a mess. While part of the issue is the shortage of air traffic controllers, the bigger issue is that our air traffic control infrastructure is incredibly outdated, impacting operational reliability and safety.

May 8, 2025 - 20:11

Trump Unveils Plan To Modernize Air Traffic Control: Long Overdue!

We all know that air traffic control in the United States is a mess. While part of the issue is the shortage of air traffic controllers, the bigger issue is that our air traffic control infrastructure is incredibly outdated, impacting operational reliability and safety.

So there’s an exciting update on that front, as the Trump administration has today announced plans to build what’s being referred to as a “brand new state-of-the-art air traffic control system.” The upgrades are significant, and the proposed timeline is impressively fast (or just plain unrealistically optimistic?).

Proposal to fix air traffic control mess revealed

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has today unveiled a plan to build a new air traffic control system that “will be the envy of the world.” As it’s described, by replacing the current, antiquated system, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will enhance safety, reduce delays, and unlock the future of air travel.

The plan addresses critical safety needs, and we’ll see the FAA replace core infrastructure, including radar, software, hardware, and telecommunications networks, to manage modern travel, creating a system built for the future. The agency will also equip facilities with better technology to reduce outages, improve efficiency, and reinforce safety.

The plan is comprised of four infrastructure components — communications, surveillance, automation, and facilities. Critical actions include:

Replacing antiquated telecommunications with new fiber, wireless and satellite technologies at over 4,600 sites, 25,000 new radios and 475 new voice switches
Replacing 618 radars which have gone past their life cycle
Addressing runway safety by increasing the number of airports with Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI) to 200
Building six new air traffic control centers for the first time since the 1960s and replacing towers and TRACONs
Installing new modern hardware and software for all air traffic facilities to create a common platform system throughout towers, TRACONs and centers
Addressing the challenges that face Alaska by adding 174 new weather stations

What’s interesting is that this plan calls for the modernization to happen over the next three years, progressively through 2028, so that’s a really fast timeline. Current estimates are that this will cost anywhere from $25 billion to $35 billion.

Here’s how the Transportation Secretary describes this:

“Under President Trump, America is building again. Today we are seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a brand new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system. Decades of neglect have left us with an outdated system that is showing its age. Building this new system is an economic and national security necessity, and the time to fix it is now. The unprecedented coalition of support we’ve assembled – from labor to industry – is indicative of just how important it is to this administration to get done what no one else could. The American people are counting on us, and we won’t let them down.”

You can watch the announcement below, with Secretary Duffy in person, and President Trump calling in (the whole thing is just bizarre — was holding a speakerphone to a microphone really the best option for something this important?).