US FAA administrator to testify on $12.5 billion air traffic overhaul

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) – The head of the Federal Aviation Administration will testify next week before a House of Representatives panel on the ongoing $12.5 billion effort to modernize the aging US air traffic control system, congressional aides said on Friday.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford will update the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday on progress and ongoing challenges as it works to replace ancient equipment like copper telecom lines, floppy disks and paper strips used to track airplanes.

Congress approved $12.5 billion over five years in June 2025 for air traffic control reforms but the Trump administration wants another $30 billion for air traffic control towers, software ‌and digital upgrades as well as improving airport facilities.

It’s unclear if Congress will approve more money this year. Democrats are set to take control in January after big wins in this week’s midterm elections.

Major airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines strongly back the $30 billion Trump administration proposal.

MORE MONEY NEEDED 

A recent government report said Congress needs to approve more money just to finish the first phase of the air traffic control program and that the FAA needs a better estimate of how much the new system will cost to operate.

The FAA relies on telecoms systems it is racing to replace as well as decades-old Compaq computers and replacement parts bought on eBay. The US has the world’s most ​complex airspace and faces a shortage ⁠of several thousand air traffic controllers.

The FAA said on Thursday it would replace by the end of 2028 the outdated floppy disks used for weather and other critical information at more than 400 air traffic control facilities across the country. 

In September, thousands ​of US flights were delayed or canceled due to the dual failures of a circuit at a Philadelphia air ‌traffic facility and the accidental severing of a fiber-optic cable in New Jersey by a construction crew.

The FAA has also been working for years to end a long-ridiculed, decades-old practice of air traffic controllers using paper flight strips to keep track of aircraft by 2028. A total of 27 major airports have already done away with the paper strips.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)