Duffy, airlines urge Congress to approve $30B for air traffic control updates
FILE - American Eagle regional jets are parked at their gates at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport at night on Sept. 10, 2026, in Arlington, VA. (Photo by J. David Ake/Getty Images)
U.S. Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy, major airlines and other aviation groups urged Congress to approve another $30 billion to update airport infrastructure and technology.
Updating US airports
Dig deeper:
The $30 billion would go toward updating air traffic control towers, software and digital upgrades and improving airport facilities.
Modern Skies Act
The backstory:
The Modern Skies Act is the "third pillar" of a multistep plan that will build upon the $12.5 billion down payment approved by Congress in 2025 to improve air traffic control systems.
Following the initial down payment, Duffy said that the FAA had already begun working on more than one-third of the old copper wires on which air traffic controllers were relying on. The wires were being replaced with fiber optic lines or other modern connections.
But some of the advancements, like installing new systems to help controllers keep track of planes on the ground at 44 airports, began during the Biden administration.
And significant work remains ahead to install thousands of new radios and hundreds of new radar systems. The old connections still need to be upgraded at thousands of additional facilities, and six new air traffic control centers are scheduled to be built.
The Source: Information for this article was taken from reporting by Reuters, a tweet from Sec. Sean Duffy posted on Sept. 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Transportation website, and previous reporting by The Associated Press. This story was reported from San Jose.