GAO Report Urges Air Traffic Control Modernization

U.S. Government Accountability Office has identified 105 unsustainable or potentially unsustainable ATC systems.

Tuesday, March 04, 2025 at 03:56 PM ET

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The U.S. Government Accountability Office stated in its report that of the FAA’s 138 air traffic control systems, 51 were unsustainable and 54 were potentially unsustainable. [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. GAO urged the FAA to modernize its aging air traffic control (ATC) systems, citing significant risks to safety and efficiency.
An FAA risk assessment revealed that 76% of its 138 ATC systems are either unsustainable or potentially unsustainable, with many being decades old.
Challenges include a lack of parts, retiring expert technicians, and increased airspace demand, exemplified by the 2023 NOTAM system outage which caused widespread flight disruptions.

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The U.S. Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) published a report Tuesday urging the FAA to modernize systems for air traffic control (ATC).

The 17-page report was commissioned by GAO after an “aging” ATC system outage caused a shutdown of the national airspace in 2023. This prompted the FAA to conduct an operational risk assessment to evaluate the sustainability of all ATC systems.

Caleb Revill

Caleb Revill is a journalist, writer and lifelong learner working as a Junior Writer for Firecrown. When he isn't tackling breaking news, Caleb is on the lookout for fascinating feature stories.