Flying from Atlanta to LaGuardia takes longer today than it did in the 1950s, when Delta first opened the route, because the US air traffic control system still runs on 1960s-era radar. That is the assessment of Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, whose warning about antiquated airspace infrastructure has gained fresh urgency after the FAA imposed a nationwide ground stop on Friday.

The ground stop came after a year in which chronic delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport exposed a litany of failures in aging control systems. Those problems have not gone away.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admitted last year that some of the decades-old computer equipment used by controllers looks like it came off the set of Apollo 13. He compared the technology to a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.

What did Bastian actually say?

"That's the air traffic control system. It's very slow. It's congested," Bastian told NBC's TODAY in May 2025. "If you modernize the skies, you can kind of bring greater efficiency."

By modernization, Bastian means satellites, GPS and the latest state-of-the-art equipment. Instead, controllers today work with a radar point-and-shoot system designed in the 1960s.

"The screens look like something out of the 1960s and '70s," Bastian said. "Our controllers and our operators need the best in order to keep us safe and make sure it maintains its safety record."

His comments followed a string of incidents reported this year, including emergency landings, machinery failures and a collision. Despite that record, Bastian insists flying remains secure.

"It is absolutely safe. It's the safest form of transportation in the world," he said. "The most skilled aviation professionals in the world work and operate the U.S. airspace. So it is absolutely safe."

Safety, however, is not the same as acceptability. Bastian argues the United States should not tolerate antiquated technology running its airspace.

How much will the fix cost?

Congress and the industry disagree sharply on the bill. On Friday, Duffy called on lawmakers to appropriate $50 billion for modernization. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee puts the cost at $12.5 billion. The Modern Skies Coalition, an umbrella group of aviation industry organizations, estimates $31 billion or more.

The funding fight comes with bipartisan support for an overhaul already in place. On May 8, 2025, Duffy and President Donald Trump announced a plan to build a brand-new air traffic control system "that will be the envy of the world."

The plan's scope is broad:

• Replace outdated infrastructure with wireless and satellite technologies at more than 4,600 air traffic control sites
• Build six new air traffic coordination centers
• Replace towers and terminal radar approach control facilities, known as TRACONs

Money is only part of the constraint. Time is the other. Reuters reported in late March that the FAA was short about 3,500 air traffic controllers.

"Our antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce," the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. "As Secretary Duffy has said, we must get the best safety technology in the hands of controllers as soon as possible."

What are airlines doing in the meantime?

Carriers are shrinking their presence at Newark to cut congestion caused by control-system failures, Bastian said. Delta and other airlines have pulled down operations 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."

Until Washington settles on a number, fewer flights at the nation's most congested hub remain the industry's only workaround.