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Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy says he has a plan to overhaul the country's air traffic control system. He cited recent incidents as motivation. First was the midair collision near Washington that killed 67 people. Then there was the outage at Newark Airport that left air traffic controllers unable to communicate. NPR's Scott Neuman reports.
SCOTT NEUMAN, BYLINE: Secretary Duffy was joined by lawmakers, the heads of the FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board and the CEOs of major airlines as he made the announcement. He was even joined by President Trump on the phone.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SEAN DUFFY: All right, Mr. President, you're on speakerphone.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Hello, everybody. It's a great honor, great honor.
NEUMAN: The administration's plan calls for a top-to-bottom rebuild, new radar and communication systems, upgraded flight management technology and the replacement of aging towers and support facilities. Duffy displayed decades-old hardware he says is still in use by air traffic controllers. He compared the current system to a flip phone in an age of app-driven smartphones. Stephen Creamer is president and CEO of the Air Traffic Control Association, an industry group that has pushed for upgrading airport systems. He says there's a lot to like about the proposal.
STEPHEN CREAMER: First thing that I like is the level of commitment that's been expressed by the secretary of transportation, by the administration. I mean, obviously, we heard the president.
NEUMAN: Creamer says he's also encouraged by the level of bipartisan support in the House and Senate and commitment from industry leaders.
CREAMER: I think all of that is what is truly historic about today, the idea that the United States government is going to invest substantially.
NEUMAN: Steven Jacobsen is a professor at the University of Illinois who studies aviation risk.
STEVEN JACOBSEN: The recognition that the existing system needs to be not just upgraded, but needs to be transformed, I think, is critical.
NEUMAN: But Jacobsen thinks the proposal isn't far-reaching enough. For example, there's been no mention of using artificial intelligence, which could take over such mundane tasks as getting planes away from the gate, something that now requires a controller. He also thinks the administration's announced timeline - three to four years if the project is fully funded - is wildly optimistic. And notably absent from yesterday's rollout - any price tag for the sweeping plan.
JACOBSEN: But I have my concerns as well because this is a pep rally right now. And everybody has the enthusiasm until it comes to Congress and goes into committee and they have to find the 10, 15, $20 billion that this is going to cost.
NEUMAN: And at a time when the administration is all about cutting costs, getting the money needed for such upgrades could still prove a challenge.
Scott Neuman, NPR News.
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