Fmr. Biden FAA Head: We Didn’t Get a Lot to Improve Air Traffic Control, Even with Infrastructure Push

On Monday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Billy Nolen, who served as acting FAA Administrator from 2022 to 2023, responded to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stating that despite the Biden administration saying they spent large amounts of money on infrastructure, they didn’t spend much on improving air traffic control by stating that money for air traffic control improvements has shrunk and “part of that comes from the president[‘s] budget.” And not that much of his budget at the FAA went to improving air traffic.

Nolen said that air traffic infrastructure hasn’t been adequately invested in over decades, “When I was the Administrator, I had about a $24 billion budget, about 19 billion of that was for operation, about 5 billion for infrastructure improvements, but only about 3.5 of that went to directly for air traffic control improvements.”

Host Blake Burman then played video of Duffy saying that the Biden administration spent tons of money on infrastructure, but next to none of it went to improving air traffic control.

Burman then said, “If I hear you right, you’re basically saying, the money was a lot smaller then actually –.”

Nolen then cut in to say, “And the money has been a lot smaller over the course of decades, right? This is what Congress, what the appropriators are giving the FAA. Now, part of that comes from the president[‘s] budget.”

Nolen added that he approves of Duffy’s work on the issue and he’s never seen this kind of support for improving the system in his more than 44 years as a pilot.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett