Top Bizav Leaders Weigh In on ATC Modernization, Workforce, Innovation

Oct. 13, 2025

Maintaining the highest levels of safety across the U.S. air traffic control system was at the top of a wide range of critical issues discussed at a Newsmakers Lunch ahead of the 2025 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) in Las Vegas.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-6-MO) led the event, offering an update on the new national push for ATC modernization, pertaining to a $12.5 billion down payment on the project recently allocated by Congress and earmarked for the FAA.

“I do believe we can meet that challenge, and we can meet that that goal. We think we’re going to be able to do all of the telecommunications work, all of the new radar systems, all of the surface surveillance equipment that we want to install, inside of that $12.5 billion that we came up with,” Graves said. “We’re going to find another $19 billion to do a lot of the manpower work and modernization of the FAA that we intend to do, but we’ll find that money.”

NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen reminded the audience that the agenda changed following January’s deadly midair collision of a regional airliner with a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). “What we saw was the entire aviation community: airlines, air traffic controllers and the rest of labor at airports – all of general aviation came together in an effort to modernize and build a brand-new air traffic control system.”

Now, nearly nine months after the crash, “the FAA, they hit their mark,” Graves continued. “When it comes to air traffic control hiring, [Transportation] Secretary [Sean] Duffy is supercharging that effort, and we’re seeing a lot of good new controllers coming through the process, and we’re going to see them deployed throughout the country.”

NBAA-BACE comes amid a federal government shutdown, which was the subject of frank and passionate remarks by National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Nick Daniels in support of FAA controllers, who are scheduled to receive partial paychecks on Tuesday, and won’t receive another until the shutdown is resolved.

“They’re showing up every single day under immense pressure, immense scrutiny, to stay focused on performing their duties as the shutdown drags on,” Daniels said. “There’s no clear end in sight.”

CEO Panel Talks Airspace, Workforce, AI

Later, during a panel discussion of business aviation CEOs, Michael Amalfitano, president and CEO of Embraer Executive Jets, said he agrees with the direction of the ATC modernization, but also, he stressed the importance of better utilizing the national airspace, calling for policies that aim “to navigate growth for the industry across all sectors of civilian aircraft.”

The challenging industry workforce environment also played a large role in the panel discussion. “I think it’s the number one problem in the industry right now that needs to be addressed,” said Ron Draper, president and CEO of Textron Aviation. “The ability to find skilled people or take low-skilled people and make them high-skilled people, will limit the success of all our companies.

“AI is not going to build airplanes,” Draper continued. “It’s going to take a person to do that.”

Innovation Focuses on Efficiency

Bombardier President and CEO Eric Martel reported success with leveraging AI technology at the Canadian business jet manufacturer to help customers better predict when parts will be needed in their aircraft. “This makes our service even better,” Martel said. “And it’s very, very important to efficiency and reliability.”

Flexjet CEO Mike Silvestro said innovative technology was part of the attraction for Flexjet’s recent order to buy 300 business jets from Otto Aerospace, a U.S. company developing a new window-less aircraft that uses laminar flow technology to reduce fuel burn.

“We’re always looking for the next pushing-the-edge technology,” Silvestro said. “Otto has come a long way in a very short amount of time. I think laminar flow is an incredible technology that obviously they are going to take full advantage of.”