Industry Insights
Busy Summer Travel Season Highlights Urgent Need for ATC Investment
August 29, 2025
As the busy summer travel season comes to a close, U.S. airlines are gearing up for the final travel rush.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) projects 17.4 million people will travel this Labor Day holiday weekend (8/28-9/3). The agency said the busiest day will be Friday (8/29) with nearly 3 million travelers expected.
U.S. airlines have seen record travel all year long. Seven of the top 10 busiest days in TSA history occurred in 2025 alone, including a record high of nearly 3.1 million travelers screened on June 22.
With air travel volumes continuing to break records, strategic investment in the National Airspace System (NAS) is more important than ever.
“The Big Beautiful Bill gave us $12.5 billion — a historic investment,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview on Fox News. “We’re going to need more money, but we have a great chunk of change to get this process started.”
Secretary Duffy is right – the $12.5 billion granted through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is an important downpayment, but more funding is needed to give America the airspace overhaul it deserves.
“This air traffic control has been ignored for way too long. To get back to where we should be in America, it’s going to take some time,” Secretary Duffy said. “We need telecom, we’re going to put in radar, there are new flight paths and new technology that we can deploy that not just make it safer to travel but also make it more efficient.”
U.S. airlines deeply appreciate President Trump and Secretary Duffy’s commitment to upgrading the NAS and implementing 21st century technology. We cannot continue to rely on floppy disks and paper strips to power our airspace. When Congress returns to Washington after the Labor Day holiday, we urge lawmakers to pass legislation that includes funding for ATC investment and overhaul.