The Trump administration raised its emergency funding request to $50 billion late Friday to overhaul the aging United States air traffic control system, hours after a communications failure grounded thousands of flights nationwide.
Earlier on Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and White House Budget Director Russell Vought had requested $30.1 billion for aviation upgrades. Following the widespread disruption at Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) en route centers, Duffy declared the situation an emergency and pushed for the higher figure.
The initial $30.1 billion proposal breaks down into several key areas are the $18 billion for airport projects including $10 billion to modernize aging terminals, $10.1 billion for air traffic control technology with covering new workstations and cloud computing and $2 billion to replace and upgrade FAA control towers.
Major carriers like American, Delta, United and Southwest Airlines have backed the funding push. The administration is urging the Republican-led Congress to pass the package before Democrats take control in January.
However, the Senate Commerce Committee noted that Congress already approved $12.5 billion in July 2025 for controller hiring and tech upgrades, alongside $1.9 billion specifically for en route centers. Lawmakers stressed the need to prioritize these core centers over other projects.
The US aviation network faces severe strain from outdated equipment. The FAA still relies on decades-old computers, parts bought on auction sites and floppy disks which it plans to phase out across 400 facilities by late 2028. While officials noted that 68 percent of old copper networks have been replaced with high-speed fiber the recent breakdowns continue to highlight safety risks.
The push for modernization follows a string of major incidents that a January 2025 midair collision near Washington that killed 67 people and September infrastructure failures in the Northeast that disrupted thousands of flights.
