How Elon Musk can bring air traffic under control

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is set to review America’s aging air-traffic control system, according to a Wednesday X post from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The announcement provoked Democratic outrage: “The last thing I want is that guy trying to control the airspace," Sen.

Maria Cantwell told reporters on Thursday. But Mr. Musk’s promised “rapid safety upgrades" are badly needed.

The Jan. 29 midair collision over Washington, which killed 67 people and is currently under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, is the most recent example of the American air-traffic control system’s steady decline. Other mishaps include a January 2023 outage of the Federal Aviation Administration’s critical pilots’ warning system, which disrupted more than 11,000 flights across the country—the first nationwide incident of this kind since Sept.

11, 2001. Largely as a result of insufficient staff, inexperienced pilots and aging technology, 2023 also saw the highest number of near-collisions at airports since 2016. Such failures are widespread.

A June 2023 report from the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General found that 77% of the aviation system’s most critical facilities had controller staffing shortages. That November, a team of senior aviation officials submitted a report to the FAA revealing antiquated facilities, imprudent technology decisions and staffing shortages. A September 2024 Government Accountability Office report found that 105 of the FAA’s 138 traffic-control systems were unsustainable or potentially unsustainable.