The U.S. aviation system is being modernized — but FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and other leaders say it will take more money to make the system more efficient and flexible.
Airlines and aviation regulators warned that flight disruptions are likely to continue even after the government reopens. Thousands of flights have been cancelled as air traffic restrictions ramp up.
The Federal Aviation Administration will reduce air traffic at many busy airports to maintain safety during the government shutdown, which has led to staffing shortages of air traffic controllers.
A dozen facilities saw air traffic control shortages on Monday, delaying flights at several airports. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed "a slight tick-up in sick calls" due to the shutdown.
A shortage of air traffic controllers may have played a role in ending the last government shutdown in 2019. U.S airlines are once again bracing for possible delays in commercial aviation.
Record numbers of Americans are expected to fly around the July Fourth holiday, posing a big test for America's fragile air travel system — and for Newark Liberty International Airport in particular.
An effort to privatize U.S. air traffic control in 2017 never took off. Now the aviation industry is uniting behind the Trump administration's plan to overhaul the system.
Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford was tapped in March to helm the agency. It's critical time for U.S. air travel, following a deadly January collision and ongoing air traffic control system problems.
The fragile state of the U.S. air traffic control system was easy to see during the recent outages in Newark. But it will be a lot harder to make up for decades of underinvestment and other mistakes.
An air traffic controller who works the airspace around Newark, N.J. speaks out about what it was like to lose radar and communication systems during a shift, and how the situation got to be so bad.
