Key facts
- The FAA said five additional regional airports are slated to receive the digital tower technology next.
- FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said controllers keep separating aircraft and the systems give them better technology.
- The Trump administration is seeking another $30 billion from Congress on top of the $12.5 billion approved in June 2025.
- Bedford is scheduled to appear before the House transportation and infrastructure committee next week.
- The FAA said the digital towers use camera systems and digital displays covering runways, taxiways and surrounding airspace.
The Federal Aviation Administration said on November 7 that the first digital air traffic control towers in the US are operational, at Bartow executive airport in Florida and Kenai municipal airport in Alaska. The agency said five additional regional airports are slated to receive the technology next.
The FAA said the towers use camera systems and digital displays to give controllers a continuous, 360-degree view of runways, taxiways and surrounding airspace. The agency said the systems are not intended to replace human controllers but to give them more visibility and information.
"Our air traffic controllers continue to do the critical job of keeping aircraft safely separated, and we're giving them better technology to do that," FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said in a statement. He added that digital towers give controllers greater visibility of airport activity and more information for decisions.
Bedford is scheduled to appear before the House transportation and infrastructure committee next week, where he will face questions on the administration's $12.5 billion modernization initiative. Congress approved that sum over five years in June 2025, and the Trump administration is seeking another $30 billion for further improvements. The effort targets decades-old equipment including copper telecommunications lines, floppy disks and paper strips used to track aircraft.
The FAA rolled out an AI software tool called Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes and Trajectories in September. Staffing in control towers has been under scrutiny since a midair collision between a passenger jet and a military helicopter near Washington DC in 2025 that killed 67 people; authorities later deemed it preventable.