President Joe Biden’s budget proposal contains a $1.3 billion increase for the FAA to $16.5 billion that is aimed to fund hiring more controllers and includes $500 million “to safely accommodate the growth in traditional commercial aviation traffic alongside new entrants from the commercial space, unmanned aircraft, and advanced air mobility industries.” There have been numerous calls to boost the agency’s budget in light of a spate of runway incursions involving airliners over the last three months.
There have also been numerous mass flight delays and cancellations as bad weather and staff shortages combined to essentially nullify airline schedules, particularly at Christmas and other peak travel times. But the nationwide ground stop that resulted from a corrupted file in the 30-year-old computer system that serves up NOTAMs put major focus on the FAA budget and the calls for an increase.
