Dangerous Outdated Airports

May 12, 2025

On April 28, air traffic controllers in Philadelphia, who coordinate planes arriving at Newark airport, completely lost communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see them on the radar and hear from or talk to their pilots for 90 seconds. By incredible luck, no accident happened. “Only” more than a thousand flights were diverted, canceled, or delayed. Many controllers took special government leave to recover from the stress caused by this incident.

It did not take long for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials to admit that the agency’s “antiquated air traffic control system” affects its workforce and operations. Indeed, the FAA’s U.S.-wide system is obsolete, even 70 years old in some places. Computers are operated with floppy disks, systems are connected with copper cables and phone jacks, and records and communications between controllers are transmitted using paper printouts called “flight strips.” When radar or radio frequencies stop working, there are no fail-safes, meaning controllers must simply wait for the system to come back online. The U.S. air traffic control system suffers about 700 communication outages each week.

Every official has known for decades that this system was outdated. In 2003, the U.S. Congress directed the FAA to modernize its systems. But the earliest overhaul isn’t set to be completed until 2030, and “completion dates for planned investments for systems, especially concerning, were at least 6 to 10 years away,” according to the federal government.

In addition, every official has known that the air traffic control system was critically understaffed. More than two years ago, on December 19, 2023, the FAA warned the U.S. Congress that the Newark and JFK airports, which handle millions of flights each year, may face “airport closures” as soon as late 2024 if safety-critical staffing falls too short.

Nationwide, FAA staffing is at its lowest point in nearly 30 years, with more than 90% of air traffic control facilities operating below the FAA’s recommended staffing levels. That is, 285 of 313 air traffic control facilities are chronically understaffed, and 73 facilities are missing a quarter of their workforce. The shortage is particularly severe in the New York region, where nearly 40% of the positions are unfilled. The FAA says it needs 3,000 more controllers to be fully staffed.

Due to such shortages, the FAA overworks its controllers. The controllers union has long warned of fatigue resulting from mandatory overtime, with some controllers frequently working 10-hour days over six-day weeks.

On top of the very high stress caused by being directly involved with the well-being of millions of travelling people, the pay is not that high. The FAA recently announced that it would boost pay for students at its air-traffic control academy to $22.84 an hour. You did not read it wrong. It is barely above the minimum wage. Entry-level pay for graduates is around $47,000, according to the FAA. No wonder the FAA cannot find enough recruits, even barely, to fill its staffing shortage.

But when it comes to funneling our tax money to big airline businesses, the U.S. government does not miss a beat. The federal government subsidizes airlines through various schemes, including direct financial assistance, tax breaks, and loan guarantees. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the government funneled close to 60 billion dollars to the airlines in 2021. Most of the costs of building and expanding airports are not borne by the airlines themselves, but by the public via federal, state, and local governments. Because of such lavish handouts, Delta, American Airlines, and United Airlines are the largest in the world in revenue, reaching 300 billion dollars.

In sum, overworked, understaffed, fatigued, and stressed-out air traffic workers operate antiquated technology on the one hand, and airlines extract skyrocketing profits on the other. This is the sole wonder of this capitalist system—only profits count!!

If a tragedy was avoided last month, it’s due to pure luck.