US aviation industry urges Congress to provide $20 billion for air traffic control upgrades

The FAA's air traffic telecom system has been hit by a series of failures, including serious outages covering Newark airport traffic last year. The initial $12.5 billion followed decades of complaints over airport congestion and flight delays due in large part to creaky technology and understaffed towers.

A 2023 report said the FAA's communications system has been outdated for years and it can no longer get spare parts for many systems. Of the FAA's 138 air traffic control telecoms systems, 51 were unsustainable, a separate report said.

The FAA said by the end of 2028, airports will have 5,000 new high-speed network connections on fiber, satellite and wireless, 27,000 new radios and state-of-the-art radars.