Industry Insights
Let’s Celebrate America by Giving It the ATC System We Deserve
July 03, 2025
Millions of us will travel to celebrate America’s birthday this week. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) expects more than 18.5 million travelers to pass through airport checkpoints over the busy July 4th holiday weekend.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is also expecting a busy holiday in the skies, with July 3rd expected to peak with more than 51,000 flights.
This comes on the heels of the busiest day in TSA history, with the agency screening nearly 3.1 million people on June 22nd.
U.S. airlines are ready for the increased demand. Airlines for America (A4A) forecasted that U.S. airlines will operate 4 percent more flights than they did last summer, with roughly 27,000 daily flights scheduled.
Airlines are ready for the travel rush, but our nation’s infrastructure and airspace has not kept up with this increased demand. 1980s floppy disks, paper strips and copper wire are still being used in air traffic control (ATC) towers across the country.
This technology belongs in a time capsule, not in our ATC systems.
“The radar, the newest ones are from like 1983, but most of them are from the 70s and I think we have some from the 60s,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a video posted to X. “This is the greatest country on Earth, and this is what we use?”
President Trump and Secretary Duffy intimately understand this and are doing something to change it. Secretary Duffy recently unveiled the Trump Administration’s plan to modernize our skies by building out a brand new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system. Currently, there is $12.5 billion in funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill which will be used to begin these upgrades.
“The One Big, Beautiful Bill will modernize this decrepit relic and give America the best, most advanced air traffic control system on Earth, the best by far. It contains a historic program to update antiquated communications and radar systems, deteriorating hardware and ancient software,” President Trump said in the Oval Office last week. “With the latest 21st-century tools and equipment, it will improve runway safety and build new air traffic control centers for the first time in more than 50 years and keep America flying safely and efficiently for decades to come.”
“We are going to need a lot more money, but this is the one vehicle we have to start the build right now. And so, I hope the Congress does its work. Frankly, I hope the Congress finds more money,” Secretary Duffy said at an event at the San Diego International Airport in June.
U.S. airlines are deeply appreciative of the Trump Administration’s tireless work to modernize our skies. There is widespread industry support for this effort, with more than 50 organizations across airlines, labor and manufacturers joining forces to create the Modern Skies Coalition.
The American traveling public supports this as well. A recent poll from Sports & Leisure Research Group found that 67 percent of Americans support taxpayer funds being used to upgrade our outdated and obsolete ATC infrastructure. Recent polling also showed that 82 percent of Americans are in favor of modernizing air traffic control.
Aviation was born in the United States, and America deserves to have the best airspace system in the world. President Trump is right – this will improve safety and efficiency for a system that millions of Americans use every single day.