wtop news
Dan Ronan
29 Jan 2026
Even before Jan. 29, 2025, when an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission near Reagan National Airport struck the side of an American Airlines regional jet, killing 67 people, aviation experts realized the nation’s aging air traffic control system desperately needed an upgrade.
“We haven’t kept pace with what’s available in other parts of the world,” said Stephen Creamer, president and CEO of the Air Traffic Control Association, which represents companies that built the existing system and maintain it.
When it comes to air traffic control management, separating aircraft is the key to safety and efficiency. But as the number of aircraft in the sky at any one time is expected to double by 2050, aviation leaders are looking at ways to significantly improve the efficiency of the system.
Changes on the table include allowing airplanes, in some cases, to fly closer to each other, and utilizing increased automation, artificial intelligence and other tools that are now being used in other nations that have modernized their air traffic control systems.
