Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled plans for an overhaul of the current air traffic control system, which has shown signs of mortality in recent weeks, receiving mainstream attention.
Duffy states that this new “state-of-the-art” system will include the construction of six new air traffic control centers, the replacement of 618 old radars, and the renovation of its telecommunications network with “new fiber, wireless, and satellite technologies.”
He noted earlier this week that this renewal would require tens of billions of dollars.
Airline CEOs from American, Delta, United, JetBlue, and Southwest were present at the Thursday press conference inside the US DOT headquarters in Washington, all of whom expressed their support for the overhaul, stressing that air traffic control upgrades have been long overdue.
Air traffic controllers in Philadelphia, who guide aircraft into Newark, experienced a chilling 90-second blackout last week, Bloomberg reported. The outage “left them unable to see or communicate with aircraft flying through the congested airspace.”
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With all of that said, I think there are two key questions to be answered in these modernization plans: How long will it take, and how much will Congress agree to spend? Reuters reports that “Airlines and others are expected to call for around $31 billion in spending,” while “A U.S. House panel has proposed $12.5 billion in initial spending on air traffic control reform, including $2.5 billion for air traffic tower and contract-tower replacements.” I do think that the costly amount to improve the system can slow down Congress from coming to an agreement on a budget, and slow down the Trump administration’s timeline to get it done during the President’s current term.
Either way, I think it’s imperative that we get moving on improving the outdated air traffic control system. This is a good start, and I hope to see some action in the near future and some spending agreement from Congress.
Featured image by the author.
