Duffy Plans to Seek Another US$30bn for ATC, Airports

WASHINGTON — U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to ask Congress for another US$30bn for air traffic control towers, telecommunications and technology systems, and airport improvements, Reuters reported September 22.

About US$10bn would replace aging control towers, US$10bn would support telecommunications and other air traffic control technology, and another US$10bn would go toward airport improvements, according to Reuters. Congress has not approved the request.

“We are going to ask Congress for $30 billion,” Duffy said in a Washington speech. “We have to look at how the country has changed and what the needs are at the airports.”

Planned Request Would Follow US$12.5bn Appropriation

Congress appropriated US$12.5bn for the modernization initiative in July 2025. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is using most of that money for the first phase of its Brand New Air Traffic Control System initiative, which is scheduled for completion in December 2028.

The 2025 appropriation does not cover the entire program. For phase-one systems, GAO compared US$9.03bn in appropriations with the FAA's US$10.615bn high-level estimate. That estimate excludes government-related costs, most operations and maintenance costs, and all phase-two work. GAO also identified US$91m in cable-loop sustainment outside the estimate and said facilities construction was not part of its systems-modernization review.

The FAA has separately estimated that phase two will require about US$10.2bn, excluding facilities, but has not set start or completion dates.

GAO said the FAA does not yet have a reliable lifecycle cost estimate for the initiative or a detailed integrated master schedule for phase one. It warned that prioritizing speed without those controls could produce further delays, cost overruns or operational disruption.

Some of the proposed funding would expand the FAA's Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories (SMART) platform. The FAA began using SMART in a limited mode around Washington on September 21 and plans a gradual rollout. The system combines schedules, weather, flight paths, traffic flow and controller staffing data to help FAA specialists anticipate congestion. Airways reported on SMART's initial rollout and US$875m contract before the launch.

Planned Request Follows September 21 Northeast Outage

Duffy announced his plan one day after a primary telecommunications failure and a cut backup fiber line disrupted flights across the Northeast. About 9,500 flights were delayed or canceled and more than 100 diverted, Reuters reported.

The FAA stopped arrivals at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). Airways reported that the initial ground stops followed a circuit failure at the Philadelphia air traffic facility and the discovery that its backup line had been cut at a New Jersey construction site.

Duffy said the planned architecture would add telecommunications paths to FAA facilities and remove single or dual points of failure. “This won't happen in the future with the new architecture,” he told Fox News, according to Reuters. The statement describes the administration's objective; it is not a guarantee that the system will eliminate every future outage.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said outdated copper telecommunications lines should be replaced completely by September 2027. GAO compared a US$4.75bn telecommunications appropriation with the FAA's US$5.91bn phase-one cost estimate, leaving a US$1.16bn gap.

Duffy still must submit the planned request to Congress. The Reuters report did not identify a legislative vehicle or timetable for doing so.