Why U.S. air traffic control is under strain

Air traffic controllers have been under strain for years, but a 90-second equipment failure last month exposed how decades of staffing shortages, underinvestment and patchwork solutions for those who guide planes through some of the world’s most congested airspace are taking their toll.

The outage also sparked hundreds of flight delays, disrupting travel for thousands of people for days — again. Less than two weeks later, on Friday, there was another similar outage at the same facility, though it was overnight, when far fewer planes are in the air.

Vexed by costly delays, airline executives have clamored for years for upgrades to fix the aging air traffic infrastructure and end staffing shortages.

With the CEOs of the largest U.S. airlines present, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday unveiled a plan to replace dated radar and communications systems across U.S. airspace, an overhaul that airlines estimate could require Congress to approve more than $30 billion in funding.

Duffy didn’t provide a price tag but has said the job will cost billions of dollars and added Thursday that it will require those funds from Congress “up front.”

“The system we have here, it’s not worth saving,” Duffy said at the event. “It’s too old.”

Airlines, Airbus, GE Aerospace, labor unions and other industry members on Thursday applauded a $12.5 billion House spending proposal set aside to improve air traffic control and said another $18.5 billion in emergency funding is needed over the next three years for upgrades and improved staffing.

Some Democrats said they were encouraged by Duffy’s new proposal but criticized the Trump administration’s layoffs of dozens of Federal Aviation Administration employees earlier this year, which didn’t include air traffic controllers.

“If America wants to remain the gold standard in aviation safety, we need smart investments—not canceled investments and funding cuts,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., in a statement on Thursday.

On the afternoon of April 28, air traffic controllers at a facility in Philadelphia who are responsible for guiding planes to and from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey faced dark radar screens and were unable to talk to planes for more than a minute.

The outage lasted about 30 seconds. It took another 30 to 60 seconds for aircraft to reappear on radarscopes, according to the FAA.

Pilots for major U.S. airlines say they are specially trained to handle such outages.

But an outage of even a few seconds “is an eternity for air traffic controllers,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired air safety investigator for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA.

The incident, which was not the first time equipment outages hit the facility, was so jarring some have “taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple…