Business · Companies

Delta CEO Says Air Traffic Control Is Slower Than in the 1950s

Delta CEO Ed Bastian says outdated air traffic control technology makes the Atlanta-to-LaGuardia flight take longer than in the 1950s. Congress faces cost estimates from $12.5 billion to $50 billion to modernize the system, while Bastian insists flying remains safe.

By Alistair Sterling

November 15, 20262 min read

Delta CEO Says Air Traffic Control Is Slower Than in the 1950s)

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview in May 2025 that flying from Atlanta to New York's LaGuardia airport now takes longer than it did in the 1950s, when the airline opened the route. He blamed aging air traffic control systems.

The comments resurfaced after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop, which put the country's aging flight-control technology back in focus.

Radar from the 1960s

"That's the air traffic control system. It's very slow. It's congested," Bastian said. "If you modernize the skies, you can kind of bring greater efficiency."

By modernizing, he means satellite technology, current equipment and GPS. Controllers today still work with a radar point-and-shoot system from the 1960s.

"The screens look like something out of the 1960s and '70s," Bastian said. He added that controllers and operators need the best tools to keep passengers safe and protect the industry's safety record.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made a similar point in 2025. He said some of the decades-old computer equipment controllers use looks like it came off the set of Apollo 13, and he compared it to a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.

Safe, but not acceptable

Chronic delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport exposed a string of problems with the old systems. This year has also brought emergency landings, machinery failures and a collision, according to the account of the year's incidents.

Bastian still says flying is safe. "It is absolutely safe. It's the safest form of transportation in the world," he said.

Safe, he argued, does not make it acceptable for the US to run its airspace on antiquated technology.

The price tag

Support for an overhaul crosses party lines, but it needs time and money. On May 8, 2025, Duffy and President Donald Trump announced a plan to build a new system "that will be the envy of the world."

The plan would replace old infrastructure with wireless and satellite technologies at more than 4,600 air traffic control sites. It also calls for six new air traffic coordination centers and replacement towers and terminal radar approach control facilities, known as TRACONs.

Duffy has called on Congress to appropriate $50 billion. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee estimates the work could cost $12.5 billion. The Modern Skies Coalition, an umbrella group for aviation industry groups, puts it at $31 billion or more.

Staffing adds to the strain. The FAA said in a statement that the "antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce," and that controllers need the best safety technology as soon as possible. A report in late March put the shortfall at about 3,500 controllers.

Stopgaps at Newark

In the short term, airlines are trimming schedules. Many are pulling down their operations at Newark, Bastian said, which eases some congestion at the airport.

"Now, that's not good in the long run. It's not good for consumers," Bastian said. "It's not good for the airport itself, but it's the only thing that we have in the meantime."