Bold leadership and quick action is needed to modernize America’s air traffic control system. The U.S. is almost 3,000 controllers short at a time when we are seeing record air travel volumes and increased reliance on air cargo shipments.
We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make historically meaningful change and address ATC staffing needs, technology upgrades and funding reform that allows certainty for strategic planning of vital capital projects—we welcome any and all viable ideas that will help achieve those goals.
Nicholas E. Calio, President and CEO of A4A, has long encouraged stakeholders to find consensus on building a modern air traffic system. At the Washington Aero Club Luncheon in January 2024, Calio stressed, “More urgency is required… business as usual isn’t cutting it.”
Testifying before Congress in 2025, Calio said, “For over 14 years now, I’ve been saying we are at an inflection point with the NAS, and we all need to act with urgency… I hope this Congress and this Administration will agree that it’s not acceptable to just continue to tolerate a chronically understaffed system.”
“We’re all going to…do a great computerized system for our control towers, brand-new, not pieced together, obsolete,”
— President Donald J. Trump
“I think our country, those who use the airspace, they deserve this moment in time to actually deliver an air traffic control system that’s going to keep them safe.”
— U.S. Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy
– Nicholas E. Calio, President and CEO of Airlines for America