WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration outlined a sweeping plan Tuesday to replace much of the United States’ largely analog air traffic system with modern digital technology. Speaking at the Department of Transportation’s Modern Skies Summit, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford called today’s tools “glorified calculators” and said the agency is ready for a comprehensive modernization dubbed the Brand New Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS).
Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged Congress to provide funding beyond the $12.5 billion approved last summer to begin the work. Most of that initial money will buy new equipment and support additions to the workforce of air traffic controllers, officials said. Duffy said the department and FAA have already started preparatory work but need more funding to deliver the project on schedule and on budget, with safety as the top priority.
The proposed program would replace systems that still rely on older radar and radio networks and, in some places, paper procedures, with software-driven technologies designed to prevent conflicts, reduce delays and cut cancellations. Planned upgrades include replacing copper wiring with fiber-optic cables and modernizing hundreds of radar and radio sites. The administration estimates the effort will involve roughly 10 million labor hours across about 4,600 locations and 50 vendors, and it says the program is on track to be completed by the end of President Trump’s term in 2028.
Officials described the current architecture as safe but increasingly inefficient and vulnerable to cascading failures. They pointed to incidents such as repeated disconnects between aircraft and controllers at Newark Liberty International Airport last year as examples of the system’s fragility. Duffy also said the DOT is exploring use of artificial intelligence in portions of the program and has been in contact with three AI companies, though he declined to name them.
If the modernization succeeds, Bedford said, the system would cut industry costs, shorten block times and reduce fuel burn by minimizing ground delays and holding patterns. “We will see block times go down,” he said, citing the potential to shorten long transcontinental flights such as New York to Los Angeles.
The administration also said the new tools would automate more routine tasks, letting controllers focus on higher‑priority decisions. National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels praised the concept as a “force multiplier” that would help, not replace, human controllers.
The FAA acknowledged a continuing need for more controllers and said it plans to hire thousands. A Government Accountability Office report in January found FAA hiring and certification have not kept pace with growth in air travel, a constraint the agency said it must address alongside technology upgrades.
Bedford and Duffy stressed accountability for the modernization, noting past multibillion-dollar efforts that did not meet expectations and asking Congress to trust DOT and the FAA as they move forward. They said the agency will emphasize measurable milestones and fiscal discipline as it pursues BNATCS.
The administration is seeking additional congressional support to expand the program beyond the initial appropriation and to ensure the FAA has both the technology and the personnel needed to operate a digital, more resilient national airspace system.