The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is set to get a $1.255 billion boost in its fiscal year (FY) 2024 budget, according to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies FY2024 appropriations bill released on Sunday by the Senate and House Appropriations Committees.
The bill proposes a total of $20.279 billion for the FAA through Sept. 30, 2024, to help with the agency’s staffing and IT modernization work.
On March 1, President Biden signed another short-term spending measure into law, avoiding a partial government shutdown and keeping the Transportation Department (DoT) operating at FY2023 funding levels through Friday, March 8.
The House and Senate are expected to vote this week on the first bicameral, bipartisan package of six finalized FY24 appropriations bills – which would fund the Federal agencies for the next six months.
The 389-page bill allocates the DoT $28.433 billion in funding – which includes significant new resources to ensure the FAA can “maintain the safest, most efficient, and most complex air traffic control system in the world, the safety of our rail network, and capital investments to improve the state of good repair for our transit systems,” the bill summary says.
Specifically, the FY24 bill provides $12.741 billion for FAA operations, which will allow the FAA to continue its air traffic controller hiring surge by adding 1,800 new controllers, improve the condition and reliability of critical IT and telecommunications legacy systems – such as the NOTAM system – continue to improve aircraft certification as required by the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act, and accelerate the deployment of new entrants into the national airspace.
A NOTAM system outage in early 2023 caused the FAA to pause all flights nationwide, delaying thousands of flights in the U.S. and triggering the first nationwide ground-stop since Sept. 11, 2001.
The FAA attributed the major system outage to a contractor who had “unintentionally deleted files.” Despite the lack of malicious intent or a cyberattack, the nationwide disruption sparked concern among lawmakers with the age of the legacy system – which dates back to the 1990s.
The March 3 legislation also provides $3.429 billion for FAA facilities and equipment to accelerate NextGen modernization efforts.
This includes $65.2 million for the critical Terminal Flight Data Manager and $69.9 million for DataComm programs, which will improve the efficiency of air traffic control and lead to fewer flight delays. The bill also includes $33.2 million for airport ground surveillance, $340.8 million for telecommunications infrastructure, and $29.3 million for long-term improvements to the critical NOTAM system.
Finally, proposed FAA FY24 funding features nearly $4 billion for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, including $502 million for supplemental AIP grants that can help reduce emissions at airports, build airport infrastructure necessary to support unleaded fuels and sustainable aviation fuels, and build resiliency at airports confronting climate change and worsening natural disasters.
“This is a strong bipartisan bill that makes critical investments to address the shortage of air traffic controllers and reduce flight delays, improve rail safety after recent, deeply concerning derailments, and continue investing in the infrastructure that helps Americans get to where they need to be,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The FAA’s five-year authorization expired on Sept. 30, 2023.
Two short-term bills have been passed in the interim, extending authorization and funding for FAA programs and activities first through Dec. 31, and then until March 8. FAA reauthorization legislation was introduced in the House and Senate in June with the House bill passing in July.
The Senate’s work on the FAA Reauthorization Bill – which funds the agency through FY2028 – has been slower, with the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation finally approving the legislation last month.
