FAA started investing $1B of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding in air traffic control

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has started investing the first $1 billion of $5 billion funding from the Biden administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law into air traffic control systems.

According to the FAA, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s goal is to sustain, repair or replace hundreds of buildings and pieces of equipment that make flying in the United States the safest in the world.

The FAA controls more than 5 million square miles of airspace in the U.S. and more than 24 million square miles over oceans. The air traffic system includes hundreds of towers at airports and terminal approach control facilities, which provide air traffic services to aircraft approaching and leaving busy airspace.

US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg recently visited one of the 22 air traffic control facilities that will receive funding thanks to the infrastructure law.

“Air traffic control facilities are the nerve centers of our airspace system, and a big part of the reason why flying is the safest mode of transportation,” Buttigieg said in a statement.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will repair, replace and modernize the infrastructure that our air traffic control system relies on to keep the traveling public safe for generations to come,” he added.

A full breakdown of the $1 Billion funding can be viewed here.