U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, and a coalition of nearly 60 aviation organizations have urged Congress to consider new legislation that would funnel an additional $30 billion toward modernizing key aviation systems and upgrading airport infrastructure.
The $30 billion, split into three “tranches” worth $10 billion each, would cover a range of improvements, from the FAA’s new AI-based SMART (Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories) system to new airport runways and taxiways. Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) introduced the Modern Skies Act, which outlines how the funding would be used, on Monday.
Duffy said earlier this month that he would ask Congress for the $30 billion. Combined with $12.5 billion that lawmakers in 2025 allocated for Phase 1 of the DOT’s Brand New Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS) effort, the new request would total $42.5 billion for aviation upgrades. Officials previously said the cost of BNATCS would be about $31.5 billion.
Duffy during a news conference Monday said Congress has been “reticent” to pour more money into modernizing the National Airspace System (NAS) due to the FAA’s earlier failures. Its previous NextGen effort delivered only 16 percent of its promised benefits after 20 years and $36 billion spent, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in 2024.
“A lot of money was spent, a lot of promises were made, but not a lot was delivered on behalf of the American people,” Duffy said, adding that this time around, the DOT and FAA are “actually meeting the promises that we made.”
He called BNATCS “probably the most bipartisan effort in Washington, D.C.” and said President Donald Trump is also “helping us push for this $30 billion.”
“We remember how past modernization efforts went, which is why we keep pushing for stronger oversight,” Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), said at the conference.
Duffy and Chris Sununu, president and CEO of Airlines for America (A4A), said the DOT is completing Phase 1 of BNATCS—using the initial $12.5 billion from Congress—under budget and ahead of schedule. But that conflicts with what officials said earlier in September.
Bedford during a hearing said it is “costing $16 billion to do Phase 1,” which seeks to replace or upgrade thousands of radios, radars, voice switches, facilities, and other infrastructure by the end of 2028. He added that “some of the slipping that we’re seeing” during Phase 1 “looks like it may put pressure on delivering that schedule.”
The Modern Skies Act is backed by the Modern Skies Coalition, which includes Airlines for America (A4A), the Association of Value Airlines (AVA), Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), and General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
“If you don’t want to do it now, when do you want to do it?” Duffy asked of Congress.
Where the $30B Would Go
According to a DOT news release, the Modern Skies Act would help “modernize the digital architecture our air traffic control system relies on, replace crumbling aviation infrastructure, and build world-class airports across the country.”
The agency called it the “crucial final step” and “third pillar” of its effort to bring the NAS into the 21st century, the other two pillars being Congress’ earlier $12.5 billion allocation and the rollout of SMART. It promised the additional $30 billion would help prevent incidents such as the recent telecommunications failure at a Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility that disrupted flights across the Northeast.
Digitizing the System
Duffy said the first tranche of $10 billion would support replacing the NAS’ “underlying architecture in telecom,” which he said dates to the 1980s. Much of the infrastructure is analog, antiquated, and aging.
“We have redundant lines that go through a single point of failure, and when those go down…you have mass disruption,” he said.
Specifically, $7.2 billion would fund a new common automation platform (CAP) to unify the FAA’s STARS and ERAM platforms; $2 billion would support the FAA Enterprise Network Services (FENS); $600 million would complete the rollout of SMART and a new Flow Management Data and Services (FMDS) system; and $300 million would be used to consolidate terminal ATC facilities.
The FENS is designed to provide secure communications and information-management services across roughly 4,500 FAA facilities.
“If we don’t fix the architecture around aviation, you’re going to continue to have these problems,” Duffy said.
Added Bedford, “If we had a modern, resilient system, we could save, over 20 years, conservatively $300 billion.”
The FMDS is intended to replace the existing Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS).
SMART—a piece of the FMDS that is designed to synthesize information from hundreds of data streams and make recommendations to controllers, which they could accept or decline—rolled out in the D.C. area this month and is billed as the crown jewel of the BNATCS effort. Duffy said the $600 million would support a new “operating system” for SMART. He said the current system dates to the 1990s.
Notably, NATCA last week told FLYING that it has not been “involved in the design, testing, or implementation of SMART.” Ambrosi and Daniels on Monday said the people using the system should have input on its development and deployment.
“Air traffic controllers, the subject matter experts, need to be at the table,” said Daniels. “The best technology and system is technology and a system designed with the professionals who use it.”
Improving Airports
DOT said the second $10 billion tranche would help replace airport towers, facilities, runways, and other infrastructure.
The Modern Skies Act requests $5 billion in Airport Terminal Program discretionary grants, $3 billion in Airport Improvement Program discretionary grants, and $2 billion to construct, replace, and improve FAA-owned towers. Duffy said many of those towers were built decades ago and that controllers have reported issues including leaking roofs and faulty elevators and air conditioning.
He said the money would also support new runways and taxiways to match the growth of airports.
The final $10 billion would create a “new pilot grant program for transitional airports, which lack access to capital but service between 5 million and 25 million passengers annually.” It would cover new terminals, capacity upgrades, and cargo expansions at these airports.
“It’s our mid-sized airports that are having a difficult time accessing capital,” Duffy said, adding that they “don’t have the resources to go from the airport that was built in the ‘50s or the ‘70s to an airport that can serve their communities today.”
The Modern Skies Act would also give the FAA “transfer authority” to use Congress’ $12.5 billion to continue its deployment of radars, radios, electronic flight strips, surface awareness tools, and other equipment by the end of 2028.
Duffy said the DOT is spending “half a billion dollars, roughly, on just…keeping our old telecom up to speed.” He added that if Congress awards the $30 billion, the “core infrastructure that we use, the software that we use” would be upgraded on the same timeline.
United Front
Bedford called the $30 billion request “peanuts” and said it would provide “significant returns for the aviation industry.
“We have a system today that is over capacity based on the infrastructure that we have,” he said. “This really isn’t a choice.”
Others who spoke at Monday’s news conference echoed that sentiment.
“In the past year, DOT has proven their ability to use taxpayer dollars wisely, tackling numerous navigation and telecom projects at record speed,” Sununu said, citing that as evidence that the $30 billion would be a smart investment.
Jonathon Freye, executive director of AVA, added that the “FAA has never moved with such definitive momentum before.”
“Airline pilots have watched the system fall behind for decades,” Ambrosi said. “Our flight decks run on digital data, but in too many places, the ground side of our system still runs on copper wire, aging radios, and paper flight strips…We’re flying 21st century airplanes through a 20th century system.”