Revamping Air Traffic Control: The $12.5 Billion Challenge

What does it take to “play 3D chess at 250 miles an hour”? And how far will $12.5 billion of “Big, Beautiful” funding go toward modernizing the F.A.A.? (Part two of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • David Strayer, professor of cognition and neural science at the University of Utah.
  • Dorothy Robyn, senior fellow at I.T.I.F.
  • Ed Bastian, C.E.O. of Delta Airlines.
  • Ed Bolen, president and C.E.O. of the National Business Aviation Association.
  • John Strong, professor of finance and economics at the William and Mary School of Business.
  • Kenneth Levin, retired air traffic controller.
  • Olivia Grace, former product manager at Slack.
  • Polly Trottenberg, former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

• RESOURCES:
  • “An Air Traffic Controller Speaks Out About Newark Airport,” by The Journal (2025).
  • "Why Did Air Traffic Control Reform Efforts Fail (Again)?" by Jeff Davis (Eno Center for Transportation, 2023).
  • "Supertaskers: Profiles in extraordinary multitasking ability," by Jason Watson and David Strayer (Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2021).
  • Managing the Skies: Public Policy, Organization, and Financing of Air Traffic Management, by John Strong and Clinton Oster (2016).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Multitasking Doesn't Work. So Why Do We Keep Trying?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

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