ATLANTA — A major overhaul is coming to the nation’s aging air traffic control system, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy visited Atlanta to talk with Channel 2’s Bryan Mims about the changes.
“This has been decades in the making. A lot of people have talked about doing it, we’re actually doing it,” he said while touring the Operations and Customer Center at Delta Air Lines’ headquarters.
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Congress has provided $12.5 billion in funding to revamp air traffic control, but the Trump Administration is asking for another $20 billion to finish the modernization, which is expected at the end of 2028.
“We’re going to get new ground radar, new air radar, new radios,” Duffy told Channel 2 Action News. “In Atlanta, that’s all happening very quickly, this year and next year.”
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Most of the radios in the towers date back to the 1970s and 80s. The overhaul includes converting the system’s copper wiring to fiber and wireless. It’s also getting rid of the paper strips controllers use to display critical flight data and going all digital. Duffy said these upgrades are long overdue.
“It’s safe because we have great controllers working on really old equipment,” he said. “But you’d be surprised, in the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of their radar date back to the 70s and 60s. So this is really old stuff.”
Atlanta’s airport is getting new air radars to track aircraft position and altitude and better manage airspace. It’s also getting new surface radars to digitally track planes on the runway and prevent close calls. “Atlanta is at the forefront of the advancements that we’re making,” he said. “We want to make sure we take the busiest airports and invest in those because we get the biggest return on those investments.”
Duffy said the upgrades will greatly reduce the number of delays and cancellations caused by failing equipment.
“I’m giving them time back,” he said. “I want people to have more time with their families. If I can decrease those delays, or you’re not cancelled, that gives people time back.”
Brandi Miller is the duty director for Delta’s operations center and had an opportunity to speak with the secretary. She welcomes the improvements to air traffic control. “I’m looking forward to seeing that communication channel just speed up, and communication is everything to me,” she said. “The faster I get information, the faster I can make a decision.”
“The system is going to be safer with these investments,” Duffy said.
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