Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says it will take a maximum of 18 months to “rebuild the air traffic control system” if Congress will up-front the funding. But it sounds like the scope of the overhaul he was describing might be limited to modernization of communications systems. In a 10-minute interview aired by Fox on Saturday, Duffy cited copper wire, wired headsets and other technology “kind of out of 1980” that will be swapped out for fiber optics and modern gear in the ATC centers. He said wants the funding first, rather than spreading it out in a series of appropriations over the next eight to ten years. The FAA is testing satellite-based communications using Starlink terminals in Alaska and New Jersey but Duffy did not mention that program specifically.
Duffy said the rash of accidents and close calls in his first six weeks of office have focused his department on safety, but he also noted that they were “nothing to do with air traffic control.” He said safety will not be compromised regardless of the timing of any modernization program and traffic will be throttled as necessary to ensure that. “You will not fly if it’s not safe,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Air Line Pilots Association has had a word with Duffy about comments he made after runway incursion at Midway Airport in Chicago 10 days ago. “Spoke w/@SecDuffy regarding his NBC interview,” ALPA President Jason Ambrosi said in an X Post. “He reiterated his strong support for @ALPAPilots & all Part 121 aviators. We agreed to continue dialogue about US leadership in aviation safety. Investigations will run their course & together we’ll make the safest system even safer.”
In an interview with NBC News earlier this month, Duffy said there was an element of pilot error in three major accidents that occurred in the first three weeks of his tenure. He also said that he would support “pulling” the airmen certificates of pilots who fail to follow ATC instructions.
