US flight chaos puts a $50 bn upgrade in the air

Washington: The Trump administration boosted its request for air traffic control funding to $50 billion late Friday after a communications issue forced a nationwide groundstop that halted thousands of flights for hours.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the White House earlier on Friday asked for $30.1 billion to upgrade the United States' aging airports and air traffic control system.

"This is an emergency," Duffy said. "What's more important than having an air traffic control system that actually works?"

The issue impacted the FAA's en route centers that handle traffic between airports. But the Republican-led Senate Commerce Committee said the incident highlights the need to prioritize modernizing those centers over other projects and noted Congress approved $1.9 billion to replace outdated en route centers.

The world's most complex airspace has experienced a series of events in recent years that have disrupted flights and risked safety. In January 2025, a midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport killed 67 people.

Congress already approved $12.5 billion over five years in July 2025 to upgrade air traffic control and increase the hiring of controllers following complaints about airport congestion, flight delays and technology problems.

The request from White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy seeks $10.1 billion for air traffic control modernization, including $7.2 billion for a common automation platform and controller workstations and $2 billion for cloud computing.

"This investment is critical to complete the modernization of our national airspace - delivering a resilient telecommunications backbone for air traffic controllers, modern hardware and software, state-of-the-art control towers, and world-class airport infrastructure," Duffy and Vought wrote to lawmakers asking for swift action.

Major airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines have expressed support for the request.

The $30.1 billion request also includes $2 billion to replace and improve Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control towers and $18 billion for airport-related projects including $10 billion to modernize or replace aging terminals.

The FAA relies on decades-old computers as well as replacement parts bought through auction websites. Last week, it said it would replace by the end of 2028 floppy disks used for weather and other critical information at more than 400 air traffic control facilities.

Vought and Duffy in their letter said the FAA has replaced 68% of legacy copper telecommunications network with high-speed fiber infrastructure.

The administration has called for the Republican-led Congress to approve funding in the final weeks of the year. Democrats are set to take control of Congress in January.

In September, the dual failures of a circuit at a Philadelphia air traffic facility and the accidental severing of a fiber-optic cable in New Jersey by a construction crew led to thousands of flights across the densely populated Northeast being delayed or canceled.