With $12.5 billion in additional funds approved for air traffic control modernization and controller staffing, lawmakers and stakeholders attending an Air Traffic Control Modernization Summit in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday agreed that this is just a down payment of what is necessary. But NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, speaking during the summit, noted that “this is our opportunity” to accomplish what has faltered in the past, given the unique alignment of government, stakeholders, and the general public.
Stakeholders attending the day-long event hosted by the American Association of Airport Executives cited a need closer to $30 billion to achieve the required upgrades. Recognizing this, U.S. transportation, housing, and urban development subcommittee chairman Steve Womack (R-Arkansas) said lawmakers are planning upwards of a $6 billion additional bump to the $12.5 billion through the transportation, housing, and urban development (THUD) bill that the full Appropriations Committee will consider on Thursday.
While $12.5 billion is more money than the FAA has had at once dedicated to modernization, Womack said, “The goal is to build a brand-new air traffic control system—not piecemealing, which is what we have been living through…It’s not enough money to accomplish the goal.”
He noted that at one point, the FAA was reporting 600 intermittent outages a week across the system, and recent notam outages were troublesome. “The truth is, our system has performed extremely well while being neglected for years. But at some point, the consequences of that neglect rear their ugly head.”
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reiterated his calls for stakeholders to coalesce on moving forward, stating that this renewed effort cannot be “NextGen 2.0”—referring to the long-promised NextGen program that he said “was intended to revolutionize air traffic control systems. Instead, it was severely over budget and behind schedule and failed to deliver the promised results.”
He warned that modernization can’t just happen by appropriation and that he is “committed to having buy-in” for the next crucial steps. He called for transparency and a focused administration, but also collaboration with industry. “This initiative must be in lockstep with all of industry who recognize the need for modernization,” he said. “The truth is undeniable. Our infrastructure can no longer handle the scale and complexity of modern aviation.”
Bolen expressed optimism that the aviation community is “at a really special point” where money has been furnished, the administration is motivated to move forward, the aviation community is in agreement, and the general public is supportive of such a massive undertaking. He added that the tragic collision on January 29 of PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk “sealed our resolve.”
Airlines for America president and CEO Nicholas Calio agreed, saying the community needs to maintain the urgency and money, “because this time it is going to be done. It’s going to be done correctly.”
“We’ve now got such an alignment across so many different organizations within the aviation ecosystem, from the…aircraft controller side to the general aviation side, and the airline side. I think for the first time ever, come together in a way that we can shake hands and commit to going and moving forward,” added General Aviation Manufacturers Association president and CEO Jim Viola. “I think that some of the biggest challenges in the past was the lack of alignment. And to me, it feels good that we’re in a place where we’re poised to step forward and pretty aggressively.”
However, attendees agreed with Cruz that to move forward, more than just money is necessary. Bolen stressed the importance of procurement reforms and noted that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy worries that permitting—obtaining necessary approvals to accomplish tasks such as switching from copper wires to fiber optic—may be among the biggest pinch points.
Viola added that technologies such as those that guard against midair collisions have been around for years, but restrictions have slowed their introduction into the system. “Those are some of the walls we’d like to knock down on the manufacturer side.”
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association president and CEO Darren Pleasance warned that controller staffing is another critical piece. He pointed to the tower in Frederick, Maryland, where AOPA is based. Typically, just one controller is on staff, Pleasance noted. “If you get even just a modest amount of traffic, that becomes a saturated situation. You just hear it,” he said, and with advanced air mobility, that workload will only increase.