Washington — The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is recommending the allocation of $12.5 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration to fund air traffic control hiring and technology.
The committee approved its budget reconciliation proposal on April 30. The proposal now moves to the House Budget Committee for consideration.
The provisions will help address “the long-delayed modernization of our antiquated air traffic control system to strengthen American aviation safety,” Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in a press release.
In February, the Flight Safety Foundation reported that 268 people were killed in airline incidents last year. That marked the most since 2019, when 280 deaths were recorded, and more than doubled the 2023 total of 110.
The industry experienced multiple high-profile incidents in the first quarter of 2025, including the collision of a commercial airliner with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed 67 people on Jan. 29 in the nation’s capital.
On May 5-6, hundreds of flights into and out of Newark Liberty International Airport were either delayed or canceled, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Several compounding issues were to blame, according to multiple reports, including an air traffic controller staffing shortage, aging technology and inclement weather.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels backs the inclusion of ATC proposals.
“We applaud the administration’s and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy’s commitment to making improvements to ATC staffing and technology,” Daniels said in a separate release. “We look forward to working with Secretary Duffy, the Department of Transportation, the FAA, and members of Congress to implement these and other important advances in the coming years.”
NATCA is part of a coalition of more than 50 industry stakeholder groups that endorses the provisions.
“As stakeholders from across the aviation industry, we have sounded the alarm for decades about the challenges created by aging technology and infrastructure, as well as the controller and technician staffing shortages,” the coalition states in an April 29 letter. “We appreciate the hard work of Chairman Sam Graves and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure to address these chronic problems.”
