Following a fatal midair collision involving a military helicopter and a commercial airliner in January, along with subsequent crashes, officials have been compelled to address the nation's obsolete air traffic control infrastructure and recruit additional controllers.

According to them, this measure would contribute to ensuring safety and averting the sorts of issues that have afflicted Newark, New Jersey's airport since its radar system experienced a temporary malfunction last week.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will announce a multi-billion-dollar plan to improve the country's air traffic control system on Thursday. At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration is trying to quickly fix technology and staffing problems in Newark and stop similar problems from happening in other places.

Amidst the upheaval, one certainty emerges: an aging infrastructure is struggling to manage the country's more than 45,000 daily flights.

It's not clear if Duffy's plan, which President Donald Trump supports, will get the money it needs from Congress to work better than past attempts to change things over the last 30 years. But Duffy says it is needed. Even though more than $14 billion has been spent on improvements since 2003, none of them have really changed how the system operates.

"We are actively engaged in resolving this issue. We are committed to constructing an entirely novel system that will serve the needs of all of you, your families, and the American populace," Duffy affirmed.

However, there are not many details available, so it's not clear if the plan will include making the air traffic control system private, which is something Trump supported in his first term and Duffy hasn't mentioned. The announcement on Thursday is expected to bring together many unions, who will probably be against privatization, as well as trade groups, industry people, and families of the people who died in the crash in January.

For years, the system worked quite well, so most governments didn't pay much attention to it, said Sheldon Jacobson, a professor at the University of Illinois who studies dangers in flying. "But working quite well is not good enough for air travel, because people's lives are in danger."

Jacobson remains dubious about the likelihood of Duffy's proposal gaining traction, although there might be a resurgence of support in the wake of the collision between an American Airlines aircraft and an Army helicopter over Washington D.C. in January, and a plane that overturned and ignited in Toronto.

For years, reports and hearings have underscored the deficiencies within the nation's air traffic control system. Most recently, a Government Accountability Office review published in March indicated that 51 of the FAA’s 138 systems were deemed unsustainable, while an additional 54 were potentially unsustainable. A 2023 failure in the FAA’s Notice to Airmen system necessitated the grounding of all flights across the country for over two hours.

Frank Lorenzo, the former CEO of Continental Airlines, who helped create a major airport hub in Newark that United Airlines still uses many years after buying Continental, said, "We are working with an old system and have old infrastructure. We haven't really given it the attention it needs."

The head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association told Congress that most of the FAA's communication systems at over 4,600 places still use old copper wires for some parts, instead of the more reliable fiber optic cables that can carry more information. Problems with these lines that happen unexpectedly often cause planes to stop on the ground at airports and seem to have caused the issues in Newark.

The radar system that air traffic controllers in Philadelphia use to guide planes at Newark Airport stopped working for about 30 seconds on April 28. This happened possibly because of a problem with the data lines from New York. Some of these lines are old copper phone lines that the FAA still uses. The FAA uses these lines because the controllers for Newark were moved from New York to Philadelphia last summer to help with not having enough staff.

The FAA announced on Wednesday that it plans to replace old copper wires with fiber optics and add three more data lines between New York and Philadelphia. The agency is also working to train and certify more air traffic controllers.

The duration of both measures remains uncertain, though Duffy anticipates an improvement in Newark's situation by summer, coinciding with the scheduled completion of a runway construction project. The radar outage, which exacerbated staffing shortages in Philadelphia, resulted in several controllers being granted extended trauma leave.

As a result, the FAA has limited air traffic at Newark to guarantee the safe management of flights, resulting in cancellations. Duffy also stated that the FAA will consult with all airlines to ascertain the airport's capacity for handling flights. According to FlightAware.com, Newark experienced the highest number of cancellations nationwide on Wednesday, with 42 departing and 46 arriving flights affected. This occurred despite United having already reduced its daily flights at the airport by 35 since last weekend.

Since its inception in 2003, the FAA's Nextgen program has progressively implemented enhancements, notably the development of the ADS-B system. This system furnishes controllers and other aircraft with more precise location data. The fact that the Black Hawk helicopter was not utilizing this system to transmit its position at the time of the January collision has become a central focus of the ongoing investigation.

Duffy has also worked to make hiring air traffic controllers faster by cutting the time it takes to join the training academy and making it easier for students to succeed. The FAA is also giving extra money to experienced controllers so they don't retire too early.

A big problem with improving aviation infrastructure is that the FAA has to keep the old system working while they build a new one. Then, they need to find a way to change to the new system without any problems. This is part of the reason why the agency has made smaller changes over time in the past.

Jeff Guzetti, who used to investigate accidents and worked in the Transportation Department’s Inspector General’s office for years, said the problem has been around for decades. He explained it’s not because people didn’t care, but because it’s a difficult problem to fix. He added that it needs money and good management, and the FAA hasn't had enough of either for a long time.