Duffy raises DOT air traffic control modernization request to $30 billion

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the department will ask Congress for $30 billion for air traffic control modernization, according to remarks reported Tuesday. Congress allocated $12.5 billion toward the program in 2025. If the new request is granted, the total would reach $42.5 billion.

The DOT said in 2025 that the full effort, called the Brand New ATC System, would cost about $31.5 billion. The work covers upgrading ATC facilities, infrastructure, and software.

Duffy and other officials have called the earlier $12.5 billion allocation a down payment. In August he said the department wanted another $20 billion by the end of the year, but would accept $10 billion, with a second $10 billion needed for new towers and facilities.

About $10 billion of the new request would go toward replacing aging ATC towers, according to the report. Another $10 billion would fund telecommunications and technology systems. A third $10 billion would cover airport facility improvements.

The funding would also back the FAA's expansion of Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories, an AI-based platform that began in the Washington, D.C. area this week. The DOT said the system will draw on hundreds of data streams and make recommendations that controllers can accept or decline.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said in August that the modernization program would not succeed unless the platform is introduced alongside the other upgrades.

The larger request follows a telecommunications failure Monday at the FAA's Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control facility that disrupted flights across the Northeast.