Duffy Lays Out Sweeping ATC Modernization Plan

Project calls for the construction of six new centers and 15 towers.

Zach Vasile

Thursday, May 08, 2025 at 03:42 PM ET

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Edited By:

Travis Tingle

An air traffic control tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. [Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a comprehensive plan to modernize the outdated U.S. air traffic control (ATC) system, citing it as "not worth saving" and comparing it to a 1960s car.
The ambitious plan, aiming for completion by 2028, involves replacing decades-old technology (e.g., floppy disks) with state-of-the-art telecommunications, radios, surveillance, and automation, as well as building six new ATC centers and 15 towers.
This overhaul is prompted by recent system failures, including a 90-second ATC blackout at Newark Liberty International Airport, ongoing flight disruptions, and a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers, and has garnered broad support from industry stakeholders and unions.

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With Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR) still recovering from a 90-second air traffic control blackout that left pilots in the dark, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy laid out plans to modernize the entire country’s ATC system and build new centers and towers.

“The system we have here is not worth saving,” Duffy said at a press conference Thursday. “I don’t need to preserve any of this, it’s too old. You have a 1960s Volkswagen Beetle you’re using for transportation. I don’t want to use the Beetle, I want a brand-new car. And that’s what we’re building, a brand new car.”