Over 75 percent of the FAA's 138 air traffic control systems were rated unsustainable or potentially unsustainable as of September 2024, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). That figure alone explains why the Broad National Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS) modernisation programme exists. The question raised by a new GAO report and a congressional hearing in September 2026 is whether the plan to fix it is itself financially sound.
What the GAO Found
The GAO report, released on 14 September 2026, one day before FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford testified before the House Appropriations subcommittee, found serious gaps in how the FAA has constructed the financial and scheduling framework for BNATCS. Congress appropriated $12.5 billion for the programme in July 2025, as confirmed by the GAO, but the watchdog found that the Phase 1 cost estimate excludes government costs, most operations costs and all Phase 2 costs.
The GAO also found that the FAA has not developed a comprehensive lifecycle cost estimate for BNATCS, and that FAA officials could not provide the analysis supporting their Phase 1 cost estimates. That is a significant finding for a programme of this scale.
A further scheduling concern identified by the GAO is the FAA's maintenance of 11,389 separate project schedules, none of which feed into a unified master schedule. Without that integration, multiple projects are being deployed at the same sites with no coordination to minimise disruption to controllers. As for Phase 2, the FAA has yet to establish so much as a provisional start or end date.
The Numbers Behind the Gap
The arithmetic is stark. Congress appropriated $12.5 billion for Phase 1, according to the GAO. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) reported that Bedford told the subcommittee on 15 September that Phase 1 will in fact cost up to $16 billion, not $12.5 billion. That is a gap of $3.5 billion on Phase 1 alone, before Phase 2 is considered.
The FAA has indicated that Phase 2 carries a price tag of roughly $10.2 billion, excluding facilities costs, a figure the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) has confirmed. Combining that estimate with the upper Phase 1 figure Bedford referenced produces a total exposure of $26.2 billion. Even the more conservative calculation, pairing the original $12.5 billion congressional appropriation with the $10.2 billion Phase 2 estimate, yields a combined total of more than $22 billion.
The FAA's FY2027 budget request, as reported by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), sets aside $1.5 billion to address the shortfall in Phase 1 funding. Should Congress approve that request, the programme would nonetheless remain considerably below the revised Phase 1 figure Bedford cited in his testimony.
For perspective, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) noted that the FAA first published a comprehensive ATC modernisation plan in 1982 with a $10 billion price tag. The institution has been trying to solve this problem for more than four decades.
AAAE confirms that BNATCS began in May 2025, meaning the programme is barely a year old and already facing scrutiny over whether its cost foundations are solid.
Bedford's Rebuttal
Bedford did not accept the GAO's conclusions without challenge. The AAAE and AOPA both report that he contested the findings directly, asserting that the FAA does in fact hold lifecycle cost estimates and an integrated master work schedule. He also laid out the consequences of losing political will, warning: "If we halt the momentum now, and don't accomplish the tasks associated with [the next phase] of modernization, once again we will see the system slip into higher delays, higher cancellations, and less resilient airspace."
Bedford also highlighted what he sees as the opportunity the modernisation creates: "I can see more today on my iPad than any controller can see in the entire national aviation system," he told the subcommittee, as reported by AOPA. That gap between commercially available situational awareness and what controllers have in front of them is precisely what BNATCS is meant to close.
AAAE reports that Bedford also addressed the use of artificial intelligence in the new system. "The way the FAA thinks about the use of AI is a decision help tool, not a decision replacement tool, so we're not taking humans out of the loop," he said. Those controllers currently manage up to 45,000 flights per day using legacy systems, the GAO notes.
Where BNATCS Progress Is Being Made
Progress on certain fronts remains tangible. As of May 2026, the GAO noted, the FAA had swapped out 2,560 of 5,170 copper wire connections in favour of fibre optic cable. Bedford framed the same achievement in percentage terms, telling the subcommittee, according to the AAAE, that 63 percent of targeted legacy copper connections had been replaced with fibre. The fibre optic rollout is projected to wrap up by September 2027, putting it marginally ahead of its original timetable, the AAAE reports.
The FAA also plans to modernise voice radio systems nine years ahead of the original schedule, the GAO found. Phase 1 targets completion by December 2028, according to the GAO, and covers communications, surveillance, weather and training systems among other areas.
Radar replacement tells a different story. The AAAE reports that the FAA has fallen behind on its goal of replacing 612 radars by 28 June, with supply chain difficulties cited as a contributing factor. It stands as the clearest example of practical constraints pushing back against the programme's broader ambitions.
For readers who want to track which airlines operate across the US airports most affected by ATC modernisation, our Dallas Fort Worth Airport Guide and Los Angeles Airport Guide set out the network context. Our Airline Search tool is useful for checking individual carrier operations across those hubs.
The Bottom Line
The GAO's core concern is not that BNATCS is the wrong programme. It is that the financial and scheduling architecture underneath it does not yet match the ambition above it. No lifecycle cost estimate, no integrated master schedule, no Phase 2 start date, and cost estimates that FAA officials could not fully support with documentation: those are the conditions the watchdog has described.
Bedford's rebuttal is on record, and there is genuine progress on fibre optics and radio systems. However, the difference between the $12.5 billion congressional appropriation and the up-to-$16 billion Phase 1 figure reported by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), combined with $10.2 billion more for Phase 2 with no timetable attached, means the numbers as they stand do not yet tell a complete story. For passengers flying into the major US hubs we have covered, including New York JFK, the resilience of this rebuild matters directly. Congress, the GAO and the FAA will need to reconcile their figures before that story can have an ending.
This article draws on information from U.S. Government Accountability Office and American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) / USCTA and reporting by Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).
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