Duffy Seeks $10B for Air Traffic Control Upgrade

0:00It's April 21st. This is Entertainment and Celebrity News today, AI-powered stories from the spotlight. U.S. Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy, is pushing Congress for $10 billion to upgrade America's outdated air traffic control system. This comes after lawmakers approved $12.5 billion last year to swap out old-taken staff of control towers. The big focus now is on new software to handle airspace way better and cut down on those endless flight delays. Earlier this year, the FAA had major glitches, like halting all traffic to Washington's three big airports for over an hour twice in March. Newark saw huge outages last year too, all from creaky telecom gear that's been around forever. Airlines keeps scheduling flights way over capacity. Duffy says he can spot schedules 50% too high, just 45 days out. These breakdowns hit passengers hard with massive delays and congestion that's plagued airports for decades. A recent report flag 51 out of 138 telecom systems as totally unsustainable with no spare

1:05parts left. Folks are fed up, and Duffy's calling the software the real game changer to spread out flights and dodge disruptions. Progress is rolling already. They swat nearly 50% of copper wires, upgraded 270 radio sites, added surface tech at 54 airports, and switched 17 towers to digital strips. Duffy wants this cash for more tower fixes and awareness tools, dialing back from his earlier $19 billion dollar ask. By the end of 2028, expect 5,000 high-speed connections, 27,000 new radios, and 612 top radars, across the system. Duffy told the crowd this week, rebuilding aviation ain't too big for America. We got this.