FLYING Magazine
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford on Tuesday defended schedule slips in the agency’s air traffic control (ATC) modernization effort. Bedford also asked Congress for “at least $10 billion” more to fund the effort but would not commit to giving ATCs a 3.8 percent raise provided for by legislation passed earlier this year.
Bedford’s remarks before the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development illuminated the challenges the FAA faces in delivering what he called “one of the most ambitious and critical infrastructure projects of our time.”
The administrator warned that Congress’ failure to fund remaining portions of the effort, also known as the Brand New ATC System (BNATCS), could “see the [National Airspace] System slip into higher delays, higher cancelations, and a less resilient airspace.”
Congress in 2025 awarded the FAA $12.5 billion for initial BNATCS work, and the House committee in June approved a $4 billion allocation to the agency’s facilities and equipment (F&E) account. But Bedford repeatedly called the $12.5 billion a “down payment” and said the F&E funding won’t be sufficient, urging Congress to approve further funding.
ATC Modernization Faces Schedule Slips
Bedford provided the latest numbers on BNATCS’ progress, which so far are a mixed bag.
The administrator said 64 percent of legacy telecommunications wiring has been upgraded from copper to fiber, satellite, or wireless connections. He added that over 402 radio sites have been converted to modern equipment, 22 towers have transitioned from paper to electronic flight strips, surface movement radars have been deployed to five major airports, and 100 surface awareness systems are installed nationwide.
Bedford said the telecommunications transition is actually ahead of schedule. The original plan was to complete the work by December 2027, but he said the FAA now expects that to happen in September.
However, the administrator said there was “bad news” on the radar replacement front. $3.5 billion of the $12.5 billion that Congress allocated to BNATCS covers facilities construction, including radar replacement. Bedford said supply chain issues, including those stemming from the White House’s tariff regime, have “slowed us down.”
He said it would be safe to assume that the radar replacement schedule will slip from June to September 2028.
“I hope we can recover that and bring it back in, but we are encountering some challenges there,” Bedford told committee members.
The FAA aims to complete Phase 1 of BNATCS, which largely comprises physical infrastructure upgrades, by 2028. But Bedford said that “some of the slipping that we’re seeing on radars looks like it may put pressure on delivering that schedule.”
The agency plans “even greater deployments in fiscal [year] 2027,” the administrator said. But completing them on schedule will require more money.
Funding the Effort
Bedford said the FAA expects to “overspend” the congressionally allocated $12.5 billion to complete Phase 1 of BNATCS. He said the funding is “allowing us to build a solid foundation” but that the agency’s fiscal year 2027 (FY27) budget request will provide “necessary follow-on funding to finish phase 1.”
The House Appropriations Committee’s Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which the Senate must still approve, calls for $22.7 billion for the FAA in FY27. About $4 billion is intended for the agency’s F&E account, which Bedford said is supplementing Congress’ $12.5 billion.
Of that $4 billion, he said $1.5 billion is earmarked for ATC modernization. The rest is being used to sustain legacy ATC systems.
“We’re spending the majority of our budget keeping the lights turned on,” Bedford said.
Specifically, the $1.5 billion is supporting telecommunications modernization, a new FAA Enterprise Network Services (FENS) system, and initial work on a common automation platform (CAP) to unify the FAA’s STARS and ERAM systems. But it won’t cover Phase 2 of BNATCS, for which the FAA does not have estimated start or completion dates.
Among the Phase 2 upgrades are a modern traffic flow management system, the CAP, and “strategic planning tools” such as Strategic Management of Airspace Routes and Trajectories (SMART)—an AI-based system designed to ease disruptions through predictive power. Bedford said those activities will require at least a further $10 billion.
“[Phase 2 is] the most difficult element of modernization to actually wrap your brain around,” he said. “We have to rethink entirely the tools that we have.”
However, Bedford would not commit to a pay raise for the controllers who will ultimately use those tools.
Staffing the System
During the hearing, committee members raised concerns about the FAA’s chronic ATC shortage, which stands at about 3,000 certified professional controllers (CPCs). The agency’s FY27 budget request includes about $95 million to hire 2,300 controller trainees, though they will need to graduate from the FAA Academy in Oklahoma and complete facility-specific training before overseeing airspace.
To help combat the shortage, the House in April approved a previously passed Senate bill that provides for a 3.8 percent pay raise for controllers and their supervisors and managers.
But Bedford would not commit to awarding it. He repeatedly cited the bill’s provision that the raises should be implemented “only to the extent the Administrator determines…that improvements in workforce scheduling, staffing utilization, or other operational efficiencies are achieved that contribute to addressing workforce shortfalls.”
Bedford said he has the “utmost respect” for controllers but that “Congress asked me to look for ways to improve staffing efficiency,” contending that raises are not the only way to do so.
“If we could get it, then we would do the [3.8] percent [raises] as part of that,” he said.
Representative Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) responded that “if they heard what you just said, they wouldn’t think that you’re showing them the full respect.”
Representative Jim Clyburn (D-Calif.) added that he believed Bedford is “taking some discretion not intended in the law.”
The administrator opined that making ATC schedules more efficient could address shortages. He estimated, citing internal data, that the time controllers spend separating traffic has fallen from five hours to four—out of an eight-hour shift—for the past 15 years. He said that “we don’t know for sure what they’re doing [the rest of the time and that there are] controllers in facilities with nothing to do.”
“I think that you need to look down and talk to those people that you are in charge of,” said Representative Bonnie Watson-Coleman (D-N.J.). “You need to have a better understanding of what their concerns are and how you could improve the morale there, as well as the safety and security in our airspace.”