Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled an ambitious air-traffic control modernization plan on Thursday, promising to make air travel in the United States safer and more efficient by investing in a raft of new technology.
The eight-page framework seeks to upgrade the radio systems that controllers use to communicate with pilots, replace copper wiring with fiber optics, digitize flight data management tools and update deteriorating air-traffic control facilities around the country. It also proposes deploying new technologies to Alaska and the Caribbean to provide more accurate weather and surveillance information.
But the framework was missing key details, including how the government would pay for the equipment necessary to modernize a system that the Federal Aviation Agency has struggled to overhaul. The proposals will be dependent on support from Congress for funding.
In a 90-minute news conference at the agency’s headquarters in Washington that featured dozens of speakers including President Trump, who made remarks over a speakerphone, Mr. Duffy described the overhaul as an urgent mission.
“We actually have to build a brand-new, state of the art, air-traffic control system,” he said. “We have let this go for far too long.”
The announcement came just days after a technical outage at the air traffic control hub for Newark Liberty International Airport that terrified air traffic controllers and stranded passengers.
Mr. Duffy predicted the project would take three to four years — if lawmakers provided the budget money and the government can push aside some regulatory requirements. He declined to provide a cost estimate, except that it would be in the billions of dollars.
The secretary said he hoped the contractors who wanted to bid to provide the services or equipment that were laid out in the proposal would consider their costs immediately so that Congress could make an informed estimate of the total price tag. Setting a budget first and then waiting for cost calculations to roll in would be too time-consuming, he said.
Mr. Trump, speaking to the audience via a cellphone that Mr. Duffy held up to the microphone, solicited recommendations from the crowd about which company produced “the best system,” prompting some laughter.
Mr. Duffy was joined during the announcement by officials from the F.A.A. and the National Transportation Safety Board, chief executives of the country’s largest airlines, union leaders and aircraft manufacturers. Family members of some of the 64 people who died aboard American Airlines Flight 5342 when it crashed above the Potomac River after a collision with an Army Black Hawk helicopter in January sat in the audience. They repeatedly received condolences from the speakers on the dais.
The event appeared to have been carefully planned. Mr. Duffy spoke on a stage lined with antiquated electronic equipment and machinery, including clunky radar systems, cables and a navigational manual that was dated to 1975. He and another speaker at one point raised strips of paper and floppy disks as examples of outdated tools that are still in use in domestic air-traffic management.
The announcement came a week after Mr. Duffy announced new initiatives focused on recruiting and retaining badly-needed air traffic controllers. Among them: a $10,000 award for graduates of the F.A.A.’s controller training program who choose to work at one of 13 facilities that are considered difficult to staff.
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news.
Kate Kelly covers money, policy and influence for The Times.
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