Trump official seeks US$50 billion for air traffic control after outage forced nationwide ground stop

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Trump seeks US$50 billion for US air traffic control after nationwide ground stop caused by communications issue. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The ground stop in US on Nov 13 resulted in thousands of flights being cancelled or delayed.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration boosted its request for air traffic control funding to US$50 billion (S$64.36 billion) late on Nov 13 after a communications issue forced a nationwide ground stop that halted thousands of flights for hours.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the White House earlier on Nov 13 asked for US$30.1 billion to upgrade the US’ ageing airports and air traffic control system.

“This is an emergency,” Duffy said. “What’s more important than having an air traffic control system that actually works?”

The issue impacted the FAA’s en route centres that handle traffic between airports. But the Republican-led Senate Commerce Committee said the incident highlights the need to prioritise modernising those centres over other projects and noted Congress approved US$1.9 billion to replace outdated en route centres.

The world’s most complex airspace has experienced a series of events in recent years that have disrupted flights and risked safety. In January 2025, a midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport killed 67 people.

Congress already approved US$12.5 billion over five years in July 2025 to upgrade air traffic control and increase the hiring of controllers following complaints about airport ​congestion, flight delays and technology ​problems.

The request from White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy seeks US$10.1 billion for air traffic control modernisation, including US$7.2 billion for a common automation platform and controller workstations and US$2 billion for cloud computing.

“This investment is critical to complete the modernisation of our national airspace – delivering a resilient telecommunications backbone for air traffic controllers, modern hardware and software, state-of-the-art control towers, and world-class airport infrastructure,” Duffy and Vought wrote to…

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