Few federal agencies have undertaken as many star-crossed technology upgrades as the Federal Aviation Administration. Its latest overhaul — forthrightly called the “brand new air traffic control system” — needs to learn from those mistakes.

The FAA manages some 80,000 flights a day. Its staffers have a remarkable record under pressure over the years. Yet cracks in the system have been widening for some time, and several recent incidents — including staffing breakdowns, communications outages and a deadly midair collision over Washington last year — suggest that a crisis is imminent.

Air traffic control is at the heart of the problem. The number of FAA controllers has declined by about 6% since 2015, even as total flights have risen by about 10%. Several factors — including pandemic disruptions and government shutdowns — have delayed the training and hiring of new recruits, a process that can take six years. A 2023 inspector general report found deficient staffing at 77% of the agency’s critical facilities. Many controllers complain of stressful conditions, grueling schedules and recurring burnout.

Making matters worse, the agency’s technology is in dire shape. Of its 138 information systems, a recent report by the Government Accountability Office found, 105 are “unsustainable” or potentially so, with most of those having a “critical operational impact.” Upgrades to the most important systems won’t be complete before 2030; some will take more than a decade. (Evocatively, many controllers still use physical slips of paper to monitor flights.)

Enter the brand-new air traffic control system. Working off a “down payment” of $12.5 billion in last year’s reconciliation bill, the Department of Transportation has identified a slew of goals for the program, including new investments in communications, radios, radar systems, automation programs, facilities and more — all by 2028. The effort aims to “bring about the Golden Age of Travel.”

Some caution is in order. Many of these projects were already underway and have simply been given accelerated deadlines; one risk is that difficult work will be shunted down the timeline for political purposes. Another is that the new initiative won’t do enough to fix the long-standing contracting woes that have tripped up the agency in the past, and may simply add cost and complexity.

After all, the FAA has traveled this flight path before. Previous modernization drives include the Advanced Automation System (called “a case study in computer chaos”); the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (“significant cost increases and schedule delays”); the En Route Automation Modernization (“extensive software problems” and “fundamental program management weaknesses”); and the broader, ongoing NextGen update (“lengthy delays and cost growth”).

To avoid a repeat, the FAA must stick to clear parameters. It should focus on procuring off-the-shelf systems, tie contractor payments to operational outcomes and impose penalties for missed goals, as its fact sheet pledges to do. More important, it needs a clearer plan to restrain the bloat that so often afflicts its systems requirements. Congress, for its part, should offer a multiyear funding authorization that will clarify goals and constrain costs. (The transportation secretary’s most specific estimate so far is “lots of billions.”)

Paired with a welcome new hiring plan, this effort may alleviate the immediate crisis. But in the longer term, air traffic control operations should be placed under a nonprofit or government corporation, funded by the airlines, with the FAA as its regulator. That would free the system from congressional shutdowns and budget fights, enable faster and sounder technology investment, and — as seen in Canada and much of Europe — still ensure safety and efficiency.

Establishing a golden age of travel is surely a worthy endeavor. But the problems afflicting American airspace are formidable. Expect turbulence.

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