Biden’s proposed 2024 FAA finances will increase funding

An American Airlines Airbus A319 takes off at the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport January 11, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

The Biden administration is seeking additional funding for the Federal Aviation Administration, funding aimed at encouraging air traffic controller hiring and facilitating other improvements to manage increasingly congested airspace.

The White House on Thursday proposed $16.5 billion for the agency, up from the $15.2 billion the FAA received in fiscal 2023. The motion would increase funding for the National Airspace System to $3.5 billion, by $500 million to improve the systems that monitor the country’s airspace, “to accommodate the growth of traditional commercial air travel alongside new entrants from the commercial space, unmanned aerial vehicle and advanced air mobility industries.”

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The motion, part of a broader budget proposal for fiscal 2024, comes less than two months after a pilot warning system failure prompted the FAA to ground flights nationwide for the first time since 9/11.

Read more about Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget:

Airlines and the Department of Transport have clashed over the causes of flight disruptions for the past year, with some company executives blaming a shortage of air traffic controllers. Airlines have scaled back growth plans over the past year to allow more wiggle room in their flight schedules as they struggled with pilot and aircraft shortages.

Biden’s request highlighted the increasing number of rocket launches by space companies as one of the strains on US airspace. Last year, the FAA managed the airspace for a record 92 space missions — a total that includes rocket launches and spacecraft re-entry that it is projected to surpass in 2023.

Many of these missions took off from Florida, a state that was also seeing increasing commercial air travel.

Biden is also seeking a $3 million increase for consumer protection work at the Department of Transportation, which is urging airlines to formalize policies such as B. Ensuring families can sit together without a fee, as well as instant refunds if something goes wrong.