White House urges Congress to provide Ksh.3.9 trillion for aviation reform

The world's most complex airspace has experienced a series of ‌events in recent years that have disrupted flights and risked safety. In January 2025, a midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport killed 67 people.

Congress has already approved $12.5 billion over five years in July ​2025 to upgrade air traffic control and increase the hiring of controllers following ​complaints about airport congestion, flight delays and technology problems.

The request from White ⁠House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ​seeks $10.1 billion for air traffic control modernization, including $7.2 billion for a common automation platform and controller ​workstations and $2 billion for cloud computing.

"This investment is critical to complete the modernization of our national airspace - delivering a resilient telecommunications backbone for air traffic controllers, modern hardware and software, state-of-the-art control towers, and ​world-class airport infrastructure," Duffy and Vought wrote to lawmakers asking for swift action.

Major airlines including ​American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines have expressed support for the request.

The $30.1 billion ‌request ⁠also includes $2 billion to replace and improve Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control towers and $18 billion for airport-related projects including $10 billion to modernize or replace aging terminals.

The FAA relies on decades-old computers as well as replacement parts bought through auction websites. Last week, it said it would ​replace by the ​end of 2028 floppy ⁠disks used for weather and other critical information at more than 400 air traffic control facilities.

Vought and Duffy in their letter said ​the FAA has replaced 68% of legacy copper telecommunications network with high-speed ​fiber infrastructure.

The ⁠administration has called for the Republican-led Congress to approve funding in the final weeks of the year. Democrats are set to take control of Congress in January.

In September, 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 led to thousands of flights across ​the densely populated Northeast being delayed or canceled.