Because of a bad crash between a military helicopter and a passenger plane in January, and other crashes after that, officials are now working to fix the country's old air traffic control system and get more controllers.

They say this would help make things safe and stop the problems that have affected the Newark airport in New Jersey since its radar system stopped working for a short time last week.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to show a plan costing billions of dollars to make the country's air traffic control system better on Thursday. At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration is trying to quickly fix technology and staffing problems in Newark and prevent similar issues in other areas.

In this difficult situation, one thing is clear: The old system has trouble managing the country's more than 45,000 daily flights.

It's not clear if Duffy's plan, which President Trump supports, will get enough money from Congress to work better than past efforts over the last 30 years. Already, over $14 billion has been spent on improvements since 2003, but these haven't really changed how the system operates.

"We are working on it. We will fix it and build a completely new system for everyone – for you, your families, and all Americans," Duffy stated.

However, there is not much information available. It is not clear if the plan will include making the air traffic control system private, which Trump supported before. Duffy has not mentioned this possibility. Many groups, including unions who would probably not want privatization, and also industry representatives and families of the victims of the crash in January, are expected to be interested in the announcement on Thursday.

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

Jacobson isn't sure if Duffy's plan will work. But people might support it more after a plane hit a helicopter in Washington D.C. in January, and another plane turned over and caught fire in Toronto.

Reports and meetings have shown the problems in the country's air traffic control system for many years. A recent government report in March said that 51 of the FAA's 138 systems were not reliable and might not last, and another 54 could also have issues. Also, in 2023, a problem with the FAA's system for giving information to pilots stopped all flights in the country for more than two hours.

The system and buildings are old and need to be changed, according to Frank Lorenzo, who used to be the CEO of Continental Airlines.

The head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association told Congress that most of the FAA's communication system at over 4,600 places uses old copper wires. These are not as good as the fiber optic lines that can carry more information. When these old lines break down unexpectedly, flights are often stopped at airports. This problem seems to have caused the issues in Newark.

On April 28, the radar system used by air traffic controllers in Philadelphia to guide planes at Newark airport stopped working for at least 30 seconds. This system needs radar information sent from New York. Some of these lines might have stopped working and are old copper phone lines. The FAA still uses these lines because last summer, the Newark controllers moved from New York to Philadelphia to solve problems with not having enough staff.

The FAA announced on Wednesday that they will change old copper wires to fiber optics and put in three new data lines between New York and Philadelphia. The agency is also getting more controllers ready to work.

It was not clear exactly how long these things would take, but Duffy said he hopes the problems in Newark will be better by summer, because a runway building project is expected to finish then. Some controllers are still on long leave after the radar problem, which made the lack of staff in Philadelphia worse.

Because of this, the FAA has reduced flights at Newark airport so they can be managed safely, which has caused cancellations.

Since 2003, the FAA has slowly improved air traffic control with its Nextgen program, for example, by creating the ADS-B system. This system helps controllers and other planes know exactly where aircraft are. This system has been important in the investigation of the January crash because the helicopter was not using it to show its location when it crashed.

Duffy has also tried to make it faster to hire air traffic controllers. He did this by making the time shorter to get into the academy and helping more students finish successfully. The FAA is also paying extra money to experienced controllers so they will not retire early.

A big problem when improving the air transport system is that the FAA needs to keep the old system working while they build a new one, and then change to the new one without any problems.

This problem has been around for many years. It's not because people didn't care, but because it's a hard problem to solve, explained Jeff Guzetti. He used to investigate accidents and worked for the government's transportation department, dealing with aviation problems. He said it needs money and good leaders. For years, the FAA hasn't had enough money or, sometimes, good leaders.