Federal Aviation Administration Seeks Funding to Support NOTAM Upgrades

The Federal Aviation Administration is seeking $19.6 million in fiscal year 2024 to modernize its communications systems.

According to acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen, the agency will use the funding to retire aging databases and applications and procure more modern and reliable solutions for the Notice to Air Missions system. He stated that the upgrades will allow the agency to respond to unexpected events and increase capital investments.

Nolen also shared that infrastructure upgrades will be combined with air traffic controller hiring and training.

The funding request comes in the wake of the NOTAM crash in January that grounded domestic flights across the United States, FedScoop reported.

According to the FAA, the outage was caused by contract personnel unintentionally deleting files while correcting synchronization issues between the system’s live primary database and a backup database. The outage led lawmakers to question the FAA’s ongoing Next-Generation Air Transport System modernization initiative.

In a Senate hearing in February, Nolen said the FAA is halfway through its NOTAM modernization effort. He shared that under the initiative, the agency will ensure that NOTAM meets the International Civil Aviation Organization’s standards and will provide accurate and accessible data to pilots, dispatchers and NOTAM consumers.

The modernization effort is expected to be completed by mid-2025 or earlier, Nolen said.