WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the $12.5 billion the House approved earlier this month in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act won’t be enough to fix the country’s decades-old air traffic control system.

Saying the upgrade will cost tens of billions of dollars, Duffy said he is working with Congress to give the Federal Aviation Administration all the money it needs up front to fast-track modernization of the U.S. airspace.

What You Need To Know

  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Wednesday that the $12.5 billion in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that the House passed earlier this month isn't enough to upgrade the nation's airspace system

  • The radar and telecommunications systems currently in use are decades old

  • A series of radar and telecommunications outages at Newark, New Jersey's airport within the last month has highlighted the issue

  • The Federal Aviation Administration is working with Verizon to upgrade the telecommunications at Newark from copper to fiber optics — an upgrade Duffy would like to roll out across the country

“We are going to, in essence, gut the air traffic control system and build it brand new — everything,” Duffy said during a news briefing Wednesday. 

That gutting would include an all-new telecommunications system, new radar, new radios and new front- and back-facing parts of the system, he said.

“It will all be brand new across the country, so it’s a substantial piece of work, and it will take a substantial amount of money,” he said.

The FAA, he said, has developed a plan to upgrade a deficient air traffic control system that has come into the spotlight through a series of recent mishaps at the Newark, New Jersey, airport. In April and early May, a series of brief telecommunications and radar outages highlighted the problems of outdated equipment and a lack of air traffic controllers.

On Wednesday, Duffy said the new fiber telecommunications line Verizon installed at the Newark airport is currently being tested. He expects it to be fully functional at the start of July.

He added that Newark airport has 22 certified air traffic controllers, five of whom have taken trauma leave and another who is on medical leave. He said 16 experienced air traffic controllers are currently being trained in the airspace and will take time to come up to speed.

Duffy said the number of air traffic controllers is sufficient for the reduced number of departures the FAA instituted earlier this month. 

“Is the airspace safe? The answer is absolutely ‘yes,’” Duffy said.

The situation in Newark, he said, “is a call to action to make sure we build a brand-new air traffic control system” nationwide, he said. “You saw how fast Verizon worked with us to lay this fiber line. That’s an example of what will happen should Congress give us the money.”

Duffy said he is working with individual members of the Senate as they take up the spending bill to enshrine President Donald Trump’s policies, including funding to upgrade the nation’s air traffic control system.

“They all agree that we need it. They all agree that we should have it,” he said. “They all don’t agree on how we’re going to do it and maybe what the number is, but I look forward to continuing to work with them as we go through the process.”