Duffy urges Senate to pass Big Beautiful Bill's $12.5B air traffic system fix

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy described the U.S. air traffic system as antiquated on Wednesday and urged the Senate to pass the Big Beautiful Bill which has $12.5 billion earmarked for upgrades to the system.

Duffy, speaking at the Transportation Department, was providing updates on the situation at Newark International Airport in New Jersey where outdated infrastructure and staffing shortfalls have already triggered radar and telecom outages there. 

"We have an antiquated and old air traffic control system, anywhere from 25 to 35, 40 years old in some places," Duffy said. "It is in desperate need of a brand-new build. We need Congress to act."

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Duffy said the agency aims to build a brand-new air traffic control system and touted it was able to work with Verizon on completing a new fiber optic line between Philadelphia and New York in just 30 days, a troubled portion of the line impacting Newark. Fiber optic lines are used to transmit radar, radio and other air traffic data between facilities and they replaced older copper lines, which are slower and more vulnerable to disruption.

The work was necessary after three major disruptions occurred at Newark's Philly TRACON (terminal radar approach control), causing telecom outages and radar scope reboots.

A software update was deployed to fix the glitch, and Verizon laid the new fiber line to ensure long-term stability and confirmed the fix worked, Duffy said.

"That's just an example of what's going to happen should Congress give us the money to do this brand-new build," Duffy said. "And by the way, it's a nationwide plan. We have we have systems all over the country, but we need the Congress to act."

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Duffy added that more funding would likely be needed and urged Congress to streamline the permitting process to ensure the work gets completed quickly. He also praised President Donald Trump for backing airspace modernization and criticized the Biden administration for moving Newark's airspace to Philadelphia without fiber lines.

He said that construction of a runway at the airport also contributed to delays, specifically by reducing the number of flights the airport could handle, but he said he expects work to be finished by June 15.

Additionally, only 16 of the 27 people at Philadelphia TRACON, which controls Newark's airspace, are working due to trauma leave and medical leave, Duffy said. Five of the 27 are supervisors.

He said that 16 controllers are in training and will be deployed over the coming months. 

"We normally run 50-54 departures an hour at Newark, that's now down to 28 an hour due to staffing," Duffy said. "When the runway reopens June 15, we'll bump that up to 34 an hour and reassess again in October once more controllers are certified."

There is currently a shortage of 3,000 air traffic controllers across the U.S., Duffy said, but he insisted the system is safe.

"Some have asked is the airspace safe? Is it space to try to travel by airplane?" Duffy retorted. "And the answer to that is absolutely yes," he said.