EDITOR’ S BRIEFING
In recent weeks, in the wake of the DCA midair collision that killed 67 people over the Potomac River, a lobbying group representing airlines in the United States urged Congress to increase Air Traffic Control( ATC) funding to mitigate the issues of congestion and delays and improve air safety.
However, the group seems to have missed a glaring issue: what are the actual root causes of ATC inefficiencies? Without recognizing, admitting, and addressing the fundamental drivers of ATC workload, any initiative to hire more controllers will inevitably yield the same subpar outcomes.
Instead of simply hiring more controllers, the focus should be on the realtime optimization of air traffic flows— actively managing day-of-flight trajectories in order to mitigate congestion and delays. Doing this would benefit all stakeholders: airlines, passengers, employees, investors, and the communities served.
Consider this: in 2023, the US saw nearly 1.5 million flight delays, and ATC-related issues accounted for over 30 % of them. The Federal Aviation Administration( FAA) has projected a 50 % increase in air traffic by 2040, which means that the current system will only become more strained if the ongoing inefficiencies remain unaddressed.
Another major issue is the misallocation of funds within the Airport and Airways Trust Fund( AATF). Although the AATF collects nearly US $ 16 billion annually, it is often used as a budget-balancing tool instead of for rational investments in airport and airway ecosystems, which is its intended purpose.
To be clear, this is not to support any radical overhaul of air traffic control in the new US government administration, nor to endorse any downsizing of essential personnel in favor of an unproven AI-driven approach. The safety and efficiency of the US airspace depend on trained air traffic controllers who make real-time decisions— something automation alone cannot replace. Modernization is necessary, but the solution is not mass firings or corporate self-dealing. Instead, we should equip ATCs with cutting-edge tools, improve training programs, and implement a legal framework suited to ensure safety and efficiency in the skies.
The bottom line is that simply focusing on the number of controllers will not alleviate congestion and delays at US airports. What will? A proactive approach, centered on real-time optimization. If the goal is to enhance efficiency and improve the outcomes for all parties involved, then a datadriven, root-cause-focused strategy is the only path forward.
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MAY 2025 | VOLUME 32 | NUMBER 03 | ISSUE 336
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