Elon Musk says SpaceX team will review FAA air traffic control systems

Personnel from Elon Musk’s government-downsizing team DOGE were set to visit the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Air Traffic Control command center in Warrenton, Virginia, on Monday, as the Trump administration says it wants to reform the system.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy disclosed the plan in a social media post on Sunday.

DOGE personnel will “get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system,” he added.

The Trump administration this month reversed course and denied participation to air traffic controllers or security officers of the Transportation Security Administration in a government incentive program to quit.

On Saturday, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union said several hundred FAA probationary employees were among thousands fired as part of a campaign by President Donald Trump and Musk to slash the U.S. bureaucracy.

The union said the “draconian action will increase the workload and place new responsibilities on a workforce that is already stretched thin.”

The FAA did not immediately comment on Sunday.

Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, said on X in response late on Sunday to the planned DOGE visit that the “safety of air travel is a non-partisan matter. SpaceX engineers will help make air travel safer.”

Musk previously cited concerns about the recent temporary failure of the FAA’s NOTAM pilot alerting system, housed at the Virginia command center.

This month Senator Maria Cantwell called on Duffy to bar Musk from involvement in FAA air space reform, citing conflicts of interest and saying SpaceX was fined by the agency. SpaceX did not comment late on Sunday.

The FAA handles an average of 45,000 daily flights and says more than a quarter of the world’s scheduled flights arrive at or depart from U.S. airports.

Last week, two U.S. senators called for increased funding and staffing for FAA air traffic after a fatal midair collision highlighted the persistent lack of aviation safety personnel.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen and John Hoeven said the FAA is more than 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. FAA controller staffing has been flat in recent years and is down 10% from 2012.

A January 29 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter killed 67 people near Washington Reagan National Airport in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years.

Duffy says the administration plans to “make sure that America has the most innovative, technologically advanced air traffic control system.”

He is reconsidering rules that let air traffic control supervisors cut staffing before the fatal collision.

Duffy plans to soon announce steps to surge more air traffic control training and applicants and will visit the FAA Academy in Oklahoma this week to meet air traffic controller instructors and students.

—David Shepardson, Reuters