The Trump administration unveiled Thursday a plan to overhaul the antiquated US air traffic control system, acting with industry and lawmakers’ support on a hot-button issue after a deadly crash this year.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the initiative as once-in-a-generation upgrade — a project involving the rebuilding of some air traffic control towers and the replacement of radar, sensors and telecommunications with completely state-of-the-art versions.
“I don’t need to preserve any of this,” Duffy said, pointing to a table with 1980s computers, floppy disks and other outmoded equipment still in use at US air traffic facilities.
“We’re going to build a brand new car,” Duffy said. “It’s a brand new system.”
Speaking to the event on speaker phone, President Donald Trump pledged the overhaul “will bring American air traffic control into the highest level of anybody, any country anywhere in the world.”
Such a transformation could require tens of billions of dollars that would need congressional support at a time when Trump’s administration is also seeking deep across the board spending cuts to finance tax cuts.
Duffy did not release an overall price tag during a 75-minute launch event that often resembled a pep-rally.
Funding for air traffic infrastructure has averaged $3 billion per year for the past 15 years, according to a Transportation Department handout, which called for “an immediate infusion of funding to address critical infrastructure needs.”
Duffy said he would push Congress to provide “all of the money up front” to ensure the project meets an ambitious three to four year timeframe.
The House transportation committee last week approved a preliminary plan for $12.5 billion as a step towards air traffic control modernization, but that proposal is still winding its way through Congress.
The Modern Skies Coalition, which represents more than 50 aviation stakeholders, estimated that at least $18.5 billion in additional emergency spending was needed over the next year, bringing the total to more than $31 billion.
“The staffing and technology challenges facing the National Airspace System did not appear overnight,” the coalition said.
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