The FAA, DOT just dropped a plan to fix your flight delays

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The Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation unveiled a plan to modernize the nation's air traffic control system on May 8.

The plan includes building new facilities to replace outdated control towers and Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON centers, which handle traffic at altitudes up to 10,000 feet.

“Decades of neglect have left us with an outdated system that is showing its age. Building this new system is an economic and national security necessity, and the time to fix it is now," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement. "The unprecedented coalition of support we’ve assembled – from labor to industry – is indicative of just how important it is to this administration to get done what no one else could. The American people are counting on us, and we won’t let them down.”

As one example of how outdated some facilities and equipment have become, Duffy said during a press presentation, the FAA sometimes has to source spare parts on eBay because they are no longer available from the manufacturers. 

The FAA announced several planned technology and infrastructure upgrades, including:

◾Replacing antiquated telecommunications, which had previously been teased.

◾Replacing 618 outdated radar systems.

◾Addressing runway safety by increasing the number of airports with surface detection equipment, which can alert controllers when an aircraft is out of bounds.

◾Building six new air traffic control centers and replacing outdated facilities.

◾Installing new modern hardware and software for all air traffic facilities to create a common platform system throughout towers, TRACONs and centers.   

◾Addressing the challenges that Alaska faces by adding 174 new weather stations.

Duffy called on Congress to immediately fund the program upfront to ensure the system modernization can happen efficiently. He said the goal is for the entire overhaul to be completed in three to four years.

“We’ve had years of neglect, decades of neglect. It’s been a patchwork of fixes, partial funding, and you can blame me for that, I was in Congress during part of this as well," he said during the presentation.

He and other officials who spoke during the announcement said that technology failures like the one that kicked off days of delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport will become more commonplace if the systems that uphold the air traffic control system aren't modernized.

“You’ll see Newark's in other parts of the country because it’s an aging system," Duffy said.

The secretary had previously announced a plan to boost hiring of air traffic controllers. Air traffic controller shortages have been a problem in the United States for years, if not decades, and Duffy said the system is short about 3,000 certified controllers.

"We’re confident that the system remains extremely safe,” President Donald Trump added during the announcement via phone. 

(This story was updated to add new information.)

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for Paste BN. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.