The United States Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, announced during his visit to San Diego, California on June 19th that $12.5 billion will be allocated for the modernization of the air traffic control system across the United States, including San Diego International Airport.
At a press conference held in front of the air traffic control tower at San Diego International Airport, Duffy urged Congress to pass President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” budget proposal to begin the modernization upgrades to the aging air traffic control systems in the United States.
Duffy stated, “The equipment we are currently using is outdated, dating back to the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. These systems are operated by skilled air traffic controllers to ensure the safety of people entering and exiting airports.”
San Diego International Airport (SAN) is the busiest single-runway commercial airport in the United States, supporting approximately 200,000 takeoffs and landings each year.
“I visited the air traffic control tower at San Diego Airport, and what I saw was consistent with what I have been saying for the past few months… a lot of outdated equipment, some of which is not functioning properly,” said Duffy.
He mentioned seeing sunshades in the control tower that had to be manually adjusted because the electric operation was faulty when the sun was shining. He also observed a bucket inside the tower used to catch rainwater leaks to prevent the traffic control equipment from getting wet during rainy days.
“This is a phenomenon we are seeing across the United States, and we need to invest in repairing air traffic control towers,” Duffy added.
Duffy also noted that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had previously stated in a public letter to Congress that some air traffic control towers still rely on floppy disks and paper strips with flight numbers.
In President Trump’s budget proposal, $12.5 billion is allocated for updating air safety equipment and systems, as well as recruiting and training personnel, as highlighted by Duffy.
He urged Congress to approve Trump’s budget proposal, stating, “Building a new air traffic control system is the investment that Americans are looking forward to. ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ will provide the initial investment needed for this new air traffic control system.”
“We will be updating communication equipment from copper wires to fiber optics,” he said, noting that the FAA is one of the few institutions in the world still using copper wire communication.
“This is the most important infrastructure bill for our country in decades,” Duffy emphasized. He also mentioned that “One Big Beautiful Bill” only provides a portion of the funding and that more channels are needed to secure additional funding.
“We cannot wait ten years, nor can we spend six years on this. We must take action now, and swiftly,” Duffy stressed.
In May of this year, technical issues at the control center in Newark Airport on the US East Coast led to communication incidents, causing multiple planes to circle above the airport and thousands of flights to be delayed or canceled.
Two incidents within two weeks have sparked strong criticism from the public regarding the outdated technology and staffing shortages at the FAA air traffic control. Several federal lawmakers have called on the government to promptly upgrade airport air traffic control systems and increase personnel.