by Lacey Pfalz
Last updated: 8:40 AM ET, Wed April 22, 2026
The U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is seeking $10 billion from Congress for the next phase of upgrading America’s air traffic control system.
Duffy told Reuters that "The real magic truly is the software to manage the airspace," seeking an extra $10 billion to develop the software.
Congress awarded the Transportation Department $12.5 billion for the upgrade project. Back in July, 2025, Duffy went before Congress to request an additional $19 billion for the upgrade project, which has awarded contracts to Elon Musk’s Starlink, RTX Corp and Spain’s Indra Sistemas thus far.
The FAA’s air traffic telecom system has experienced failures as of late, including serious outages in Newark last year that left the airport reeling with cancellations and delays.
Duffy and the Transportation Department have made some physical upgrades to the system this past year, including replacing nearly half of all copper wires, transitioning 17 towers to electronic flight strips, installing new surface awareness systems at 54 airports and converting 270 radio sites across the nation.
The FAA predicts that by the end of 2028, airports will have 5,000 high-speed network connections, 27,000 new radios and 612 new radars.
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