Urgent Overhaul Required for Aging Air Traffic Control Systems, GAO Warns

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has urged the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to address its outdated air traffic control systems, which pose significant safety risks. Of 138 systems, 51 are unsustainable and 54 potentially so. Despite 64 ongoing modernization projects, critical systems remain neglected.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) needs to urgently address aging air traffic control systems that raise safety risks and in some cases might not be upgraded for a decade or more, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said on Monday.

The non-partisan GAO stated that the FAA had assessed that out of its 138 systems, 51, or 37%, were unsustainable and 54, or 39%, were potentially unsustainable. The GAO urged immediate action.

Despite having 64 ongoing investments aimed at modernizing 90 of the 105 systems, the FAA has been slow to modernize the most critical and at-risk systems, the GAO report emphasized.