Government Watchdog Calls F.A.A. Air Traffic Control Systems Critically Outdated

A federal watchdog raised concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic controller systems, saying that many are critically outdated and that the agency’s heavy reliance on them could jeopardize the safety and efficiency of the nation’s airspace.

A Government Accountability Office evaluation of the F.A.A.’s 138 air traffic controller systems found that 51 are considered unsustainable, while another 54 are deemed potentially unsustainable, according to a report released on Monday.

The accountability office said many of those systems “have critical operational impacts” on air traffic safety and efficiency. Many of them are also facing “challenges that are historically problematic for aging systems,” according to the report.

“These challenges,” it added, “include no longer meeting mission needs, difficulty finding spare parts and limited technical staff with expertise in repairing the aging system.”

The F.A.A. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The accountability office’s examination was prompted by a severe systems outage in January 2023 that resulted in thousands of flights across the country being grounded. The F.A.A.’s Notice to Air Missions system provides critical information to pilots about hazards like runway closures and airspace restrictions. The outage was determined to have been caused by contract personnel unintentionally deleting files while working on the system.

While the F.A.A. is trying to update these systems, the report found that some could take more than 10 years to modernize.