FAA Puts Nearly $1 Billion Toward Replacing Air Traffic Control Towers, But Spends Even More Money On Kids

The Federal Aviation Administration has announced a $750-million investment to upgrade decrepit air traffic control facilities around the country, plus a further $85 million for federal contract towers. Much of this funding will go toward modernizing equipment, in line with the Brand New Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS) the FAA is rolling out over the next few years. But most of that is being dedicated to simply replacing old towers altogether. These ancient things have problems such as "failing ... HVAC systems, pest issues, and leaking roofs," and the FAA has decided to condemn them and build something new. 

Given the woeful state of air traffic control towers these days, this is a much-needed first step in the right direction. Putting modern radios, cabling, and radar in them makes obvious sense, especially as older equipment leads to more and more airport shutdowns. But swapping out a dilapidated facility has another benefit: the spangly new tower will just be a nicer place to work. That will hopefully help recruitment and retention efforts, since the towers are badly understaffed. And while a gamer-focused marketing push is nice (and also very weird), if you want people to stay in the job, you might want them to like the place. Besides, these people keep us all safe from air crashes every day. They deserve nicer digs.

So who's getting the sweet new towers? The full tower replacements will be in eight locations: Charleston and Greer, South Carolina; Grand Forks, North Dakota; Lawton, Oklahoma; Pocatello, Idaho; Sacramento and San Jose, California; and Tamiami, Florida. In addition, 41 federal contract towers in 24 states will be getting upgraded equipment, though not full tower replacements. Federal contract towers are air traffic control towers run by private companies, not the FAA, under government contract. These serve lower-volume, mostly rural areas, but all 254 collectively manage 28% of the nation's air traffic.

Sounds like a meaningful use of nearly a billion dollars! But it turns out the FAA is just like everyone else, in that it's spending the most money on kids.

In a separate announcement last week, the FAA also stated that it would spend $970 million to promote family friendliness at airports. Aw, that's nice. Boston's Logan Airport will get $2.8 million to upgrade four playgrounds (boy, kids really are expensive), and Mississippi's Tupelo Airport will get a "family-friendly security screening lane" for $2 million. Family-dedicated lines make sense and they do exist at other airports, but $2 million? Geez.

Then the numbers start going up. $8 million goes to Dallas-Fort Worth to "modernize 37 restrooms across five terminals with family-friendly features." That probably means nursing pods and mother's rooms, which is nice. Ah, but what's this here? The airport that just happens to get the most money, at $10 million, also just happens to be called the Donald J. Trump International Airport in Palm Beach, Florida. What a coincidence! For the price, it'll get new bathrooms and mother's rooms, plus sensory rooms for kids with special needs.

Between these two announcements, it looks like the FAA is putting a down payment on modernizing America's aging air infrastructure, something that's been badly needed for decades. It's well short of the additional $19 billion the agency says it will need to fully upgrade the entire nationwide system, though. Still, small steps are better than none at all.