General aviation advocacy groups are seeing the current public outcry over air traffic control challenges as a chance to “seize the day” and make lasting improvements in the National Airspace System. While record delays and stories of airline passengers stranded on ramps for hours have garnered headlines, tragic accidents have also dominated the news cycles.
At the 2025 Air Traffic Modernization Summit yesterday (July 15), National Business Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen said at the event hosted by the American Association of Airport Executives, “This is not just a once-in-a-generation opportunity. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We’ve never seen this level of public awareness, industry unity and bipartisan resolve in Washington. The time to act is now. We can only go as fast as our oldest technology. It’s time to build something new, not just patch the old.”
The summit also saw participation from congressional aviation leaders, including Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Reps. Rick Larsen (D-02-Wash.) and Steve Womack (R-03-Ark.), and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill). While lawmakers have already allocated $12.52 billion for ATC upgrades in the current budget package, Duckworth said that’s just one-third of what’s needed to effectively modernize the system.
Bolen added, “We know the mission and have begun laying the groundwork, but we can’t stop halfway up the hill. We’re in this together, with industry coalitions like Modern Skies, with our partners in Congress, and with our nation’s air traffic controllers. We have a clear goal, a clear timeline, and unprecedented support.”
Spend it while you have it. Because it’s going to be forgotten quickly. Pick a few most needed locations and get plans going. That is a difficult task in itself. Who can figure the future now, bid, accept, and start building. You’re looking at years to just do that. The 2028 projection was just BS talk. Then hire. Once that begins with enough effort to do any good, you still have about 3 or 4 years before one of those folks become fully capable. The controllers’ union is a necessity as a partner. But don’t let them do what unions are paid to do and try to grab too much control. The decisions will never get settled then.
I found the needed money to do it all now. How about we spend $45 billion more on ATC facilities and not on building concentration camps?
Concentration camps, bobd? Got a bit too much kool-aid this morning, eh? Will you take any undocumented border crossers into your home?
Please, quit with the politics. The people have spoken.
Bobd, I agree. And the people have spoken—the majority of Americans are opposed to the way the administration is dealing with immigrants and to “Alligator Alcatraz”. We need to be thoughtful of how we spend our money, and it makes much more sense to spend it on ATC modernization than on prisons.
As someone who spent a career around very large corporate projects in the private sector these numbers just seem insane. $30billion is 30,000 million dollars! Think about that.