Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Congressman Mike Lawler announced a modernization effort at Westchester County Airport in New York, set to bring new equipment to a control tower that is more than 60 years old. The officials presented the upgrades as part of a broader push to invest in aging aviation infrastructure across the country.
During the visit, the two went up into the tower together to see the operations firsthand. Lawler thanked Duffy for his leadership on the effort and for taking the time to come to Westchester County, saying it was important to recognize how vital it is to invest in and upgrade the airport's infrastructure for decades to come.
Duffy did not mince words about the state of the facility, saying the tower is pushing 60-plus years old and that the equipment is old. At the same time, he stressed that old does not mean unsafe, repeating that the systems in place at the airport remain safe even as they near the end of their useful lives.
Under the plan, the airport is set to receive new radios, new radar, new voice switches and new surface awareness systems. It will also get new electronic flight strips, replacing the paper strips that controllers currently mark by hand and pass from one controller to the next as they hand off aircraft, a step officials described as digitizing the process.
The funding comes from $12.5 billion included in what officials called the working families tax cut, also referred to as the one big beautiful bill, which is being directed toward FAA investments across the country. Duffy said the goal is to have the $12.5 billion spent within the next two and a half years, before President Trump leaves office.
Officials acknowledged the effort would not cover everything. They said there is not yet money for a brand-new tower at Westchester, even though the bricks-and-mortar need for new towers is real and would require additional funding. The congressman said he would continue to push for more money to address that need.
Duffy also pointed to the airport's old copper-wire telecom as a vulnerability, recalling the outage at Newark about a year ago, when controllers lost telecommunications with aircraft for 45 seconds. He framed the modernization as a way to avoid such failures, while noting that the FAA, with its strong safety record, often moves slowly and sometimes secures money to build but never builds.