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

Verified

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 entire U.S. air traffic control (ATC) system by 2028.
The overhaul will replace outdated technology (some dating back to the 1960s-1980s) with state-of-the-art digital systems and construct new facilities, including six ATC centers and 15 towers.
This urgent initiative, driven by recent system failures (like the Newark ATC blackout) and chronic staffing shortages, has broad support from airlines, industry groups, 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.”