by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 7:05 PM ET, Wed May 28, 2025
The nation’s Transportation Secretary is calling for more money to upgrade the country’s aging and outdated air traffic control system.
During a media briefing this afternoon, Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters that the $12.5 billion the House approved earlier this month is not likely to be sufficient to make all the updates that the country’s air traffic control system requires.
The upgrade will cost tens of billions of dollars, according to Duffy, who said he’s now working with Congress to secure those funds.
In particular, the nation’s air traffic control system needs to be gutted and built anew. That effort would encompass an entirely new telecommunications system, along with new radar and radios. Additional expenditures would cover new front- and back-facing parts of the system, Duffy explained.
“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,” Duffy told reporters.
Duffy also addressed the recent challenges faced at the Newark, New Jersey airport. That airport has been plagued by telecommunications and radar outages. Those developments have served to further highlight the outdated equipment at the airport, along with the insufficient number of air traffic controllers.
However, Duffy told reporters today that the number of air traffic controllers currently working at Newark is sufficient given the reduction in the number of airplane departures now taking place from the facility.
Newark airport has 22 certified air traffic controllers: 5 have taken trauma leave, one is on medical leave. The 16 air traffic controllers working at Newark are being trained and will take time to come up to speed, per Duffy.
Still, Duffy added: “Is the airspace safe? The answer is absolutely ‘yes.’”
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