By Kris Van Cleave
Updated April 21, 2026 / 8:20 PM EDT
As the Department of Transportation begins a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the nation’s air traffic control system, officials plan to introduce artificial intelligence in later phases. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pushed back on concerns that AI will displace human controllers, saying bluntly that replacing people with machines is not the goal.
“AI is a tool, but we do not replace humans in how we manage the airspace,” Duffy said, adding that letting software take over controller duties “isn’t gonna happen.”
Duffy described how AI would be used to ease delays: by merging airline schedules with FAA systems to spot conflicts well in advance. The software, he said, could identify problems up to about 45 days out and suggest small schedule adjustments—moving flights a few minutes earlier or later—to head off delays before they occur.
Last year’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” provided $12.5 billion for air-traffic upgrades. DOT officials say that work has already included replacing nearly half of the system’s copper wiring, upgrading roughly 270 radio sites, installing surface-awareness systems at 54 airports to improve ground tracking, and converting 17 towers from paper flight strips to electronic flight strips.
Congress still must approve funding for the planned AI software, which is estimated to cost between $6 billion and $10 billion. The push for new tools follows several high-profile incidents attributed to apparent air-traffic-control errors, including last month’s fatal collision at LaGuardia Airport in New York.
“We have human beings navigating, managing the airspace, and as human beings, we can make mistakes,” Duffy said. “That’s why I want to give additional tools to support the air traffic controllers.”