The Federal Aviation Administration has started replacing the floppy disk systems that US air traffic controllers still use for weather and other operational information1. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on 5 November 2026 that the new Enterprise Information Display System (E-IDS) is replacing four systems dating back to the 1980s, which are in use at more than 400 FAA facilities1. The FAA plans to install E-IDS at 435 sites by the end of 20281. The first five locations are Atlantic City International Airport, Nashville International Airport, Greater Rochester International Airport and data processing hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City1.

What E-IDS replaces in the control room

The FAA describes E-IDS as a digital display board that puts operational information in one place, so controllers can see updates, status information and alerts at a glance1. That information includes notices about equipment issues and disruptions, air traffic conditions, weather impacts and advisories1. According to the FAA, E-IDS will also improve how pilot reports (PIREPs) and Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs) are collected and distributed1.

"We're moving away from outdated, manual processes and replacing technology that once relied on floppy disks with a modern system that allows controllers to instantly share critical flight alerts, restricted airspace schedules and pilot reports across the National Airspace System", said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford1. Floppy disks largely stopped being used more than 25 years ago and have not been produced in large numbers since 2011, Reuters reported2. Congress set aside $300 million specifically for Enterprise Information Display Systems in the budget law signed on 4 July 20253. In a 2024 review of ageing air traffic control systems, the Government Accountability Office named E-IDS Phase 1 as one of three modernisation investments it examined in detail4.

E-IDS is one project in a wider programme that the FAA calls the Brand New Air Traffic Control System1. In May 2026, Bedford told CBS News that 313 FAA facilities were essentially running on Compaq computers. "It works, it's reliable, it's safe, but it's not efficient", he said5.

Old and new: what the FAA is replacing

The table below sets out the main replacements. The status column follows the FAA's 5 November announcement, except for the automation and NOTAM rows, which date from 2025167.

For automation, the FAA uses En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) at all 20 Air Route Traffic Control Centers and the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) at TRACONs and towers; it wants to replace both with a single Common Automation Platform6. Bedford separately told CBS, without saying which systems he meant, that the FAA has "three legacy technology stacks that aren't interoperable"5.

Budget, timeline and who is building it

Duffy presented the plan on 8 May 2025. It covered new fibre, wireless and satellite links at more than 4,600 sites, 25,000 new radios, 475 new voice switches, the replacement of 618 radars, six new air traffic control centres and a common hardware and software platform across towers, TRACONs and centres8. The budget law of 4 July 2025 appropriated money for the work, available until 30 September 20293. Its largest items are $4.75 billion for telecommunications, $3 billion for radar replacement, $1.9 billion for a new air route traffic control centre and $1 billion for recapitalising and consolidating TRACONs3. All fourteen items in that section come to about $12.5 billion, which the FAA calls a down payment39.

On 4 December 2025 the FAA named Peraton as prime integrator, to oversee the rollout with the Department of Transportation and the FAA9. Peraton's first priorities were moving the remaining copper infrastructure to fibre and setting up a new digital command centre, with the aim of implementing the new system by the end of 20289. At that announcement Bedford said the FAA would need another $20 billion to finish the job9. In September 2026 Duffy said the administration would ask Congress for $30 billion more, according to Reuters102. AVweb reported that about $10 billion would go to replacing control towers, $10 billion to telecommunications and other air traffic control technology, and $10 billion to airports10.

The NOTAM outage and Newark: recent failures

On 11 January 2023 the FAA ordered airlines to pause all domestic departures after its NOTAM system failed overnight11. A preliminary FAA review found that contract personnel had unintentionally deleted files while correcting synchronisation between the live primary database and a backup database, and the agency said it had so far found no evidence of a cyber attack or malicious intent11. In September 2024 the GAO reported that an FAA assessment carried out after that outage had rated 51 of its 138 air traffic control systems as unsustainable and 54 as potentially unsustainable4.

On 28 April 2025 controllers at the Philadelphia TRACON, which handles Newark Liberty traffic, "temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them", according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association12. A second outage of about 90 seconds followed on 9 May13. The FAA said it would add three new high-bandwidth telecommunications connections and a temporary backup system at the Philadelphia TRACON while switching to fibre13. Duffy presented the plan for the new system on 8 May, between those two outages813.

NOTAMs, pilot reports and equipment-related delays

The NOTAM system that failed in 2023 was originally built in 19857. Its replacement, the cloud-based NOTAM Management Service developed with CGI Federal, began operations on 29 September 2025 by distributing NOTAMs to early adopters7. In September 2025 the FAA said the full transition of more than 12,000 NOTAM users worldwide to the new single-source service was planned for late spring 20267. More than 4 million NOTAMs are issued each year7.

The FAA says E-IDS lets controllers share flight alerts, restricted airspace schedules and pilot reports across the system1. The FAA also links equipment failures to delays. "To maintain safety, we slow flights when equipment failures occur", it wrote when it appointed Peraton, adding that the new system should reduce equipment-related delays9. Pilots who want to refresh the basics can read about airspace classes A, C and D and aviation English.

Controller careers: record hiring, still short of target

The FAA hired 2,235 air traffic controller trainees in fiscal year 2026, the most in its history, and more than 1,300 trainees graduated from its academy during that year14. Its workforce plan for 2026 to 2028 calls for at least 2,300 new trainees in fiscal year 2027 and 2,400 in fiscal year 202814. The National News Desk reported that the FAA had 11,027 certified controllers at the end of September 2026, against a revised full staffing target of 12,56315. Training takes several months at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, followed by years of on-the-job training depending on the airspace15.

Bedford said E-IDS moves controllers away from "outdated, manual processes"1, and the FAA reports that 26 towers have already switched from paper to electronic flight strips1. Pilots looking for flying work in the US can browse pilot jobs in the United States.