Commentary: Modern Skies Act Directs About 40% of Its $30 Billion to Air Traffic Control, Raising Spending Questions
Why It MattersLarge discretionary grant pots for terminals and towers alongside the air traffic control money could reshape how federal aviation infrastructure dollars are allocated among airports and technology programs.
A commentary on the Modern Skies Act, introduced by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and backed by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, argues that the $30 billion bill directs only about 40% of its funding toward air traffic control modernization and raises questions about spending and accountability. The FAA announcement describes three $10 billion allocations: a pilot grant program to build world-class airports, focused on transitional airports serving between 5 million and 25 million passengers annually; completion of the digital architecture for air traffic control; and a third $10 billion block.
The commentary reads the bill section by section. Section 3 provides $10 billion for a pilot program funding terminal projects at up to three transitional hub airports at up to a 90% federal share. Eligible airports must be growing, have a primary terminal built before January 1, 1990 and not redeveloped since, and have a mature rehabilitation project. The author notes this is more than twice the roughly $4 billion annual Airport Improvement Program, without that program's spending restrictions, and says it is unclear whether any airport other than St. Louis Lambert International, in Schmitt's state, would qualify.
Section 4 provides a combined $10.1 billion for air traffic control: $300 million for facility consolidation, $600 million for strategic air traffic flow management technologies (SMART), $2 billion for cloud computing infrastructure, and $7.2 billion for a common automation platform and common controller workstation. The author questions the basis of the consolidation estimate and argues the $600 million appears to fill a funding gap after the FAA awarded Air Space Intelligence an $875 million contract for Flow Management Data and Services (FMDS)/SMART.
Section 6 adds $10 billion: $2 billion for control tower modernization, $3 billion in supplemental appropriations to the existing AIP grant program, and a new $5 billion terminal modernization grant program. Both funding pots are purely discretionary rather than formula-based.
