FAA Begins Replacing Floppy Disk Air Traffic Systems, Targeting 435 Sites by 2028

The Enterprise Information Display System, known as E-IDS, takes the place of four legacy systems dating to the 1980s. Those systems carry weather data, equipment status and other operational information that controllers rely on, and they remain in use at more than 400 facilities across the country. E-IDS pulls that information onto a single digital board covering weather, equipment alerts, airspace restrictions and advisories, and is meant to improve how pilot reports and Notices to Airmen are collected and passed on.

The upgrade matters beyond its novelty value. Ageing equipment in US air traffic control has become a safety and reliability issue, and the agency says the new system will give controllers faster access to information, cut repair costs and improve safety. A 2023 FAA assessment found that 37% of air traffic control systems were unsustainable.

The first five locations to receive the system are Atlantic City International Airport, Nashville International Airport and Greater Rochester International Airport, along with data processing hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City.

"E-IDS gives air traffic controllers the information they need to make timely decisions and keep the flying public safe," FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said modernisation of the system "is coming at lightning speed," according to Gizmodo.

The project is not new. Defence contractor Leidos won a contract worth roughly $292 million in 2020 to develop E-IDS, covering design, testing, training, production and site installation. According to the Government Accountability Office, the FAA had previously expected to finish installing the system in September 2034; its current modernisation plan brings that forward by six years to September 2028.

The acceleration is tied to a wider overhaul of the air traffic control network that received $12.5 billion through the tax and spending bill passed last year, Gizmodo reported. The FAA is aiming to complete the first phase of that broader programme by December 2028.

The GAO has raised doubts about how the overhaul is being managed. In a report published in September, the watchdog said the FAA had not produced a comprehensive lifecycle cost estimate or an integrated master schedule for the modernisation effort. It found more than 11,000 separate project schedules that were not coordinated, raising the risk that crews would carry out installations at the same sites without limiting disruption to controllers. Without those planning tools, the GAO warned, the projects could run over budget, slip, or prolong reliance on outdated systems.

The FAA is replacing the equipment while also trying to increase hiring during a global shortage of air traffic controllers, which means installation work has to fit around stretched teams at busy facilities.

Floppy disks have lasted longer in government systems than many would expect. The US Air Force retired 8-inch diskettes linked to nuclear missile launch systems only in 2019, and Japan's government said in 2024 that it had phased out all but one of its systems that still used them.

The next test for the FAA is whether it can move from five initial sites to 435 in a little over two years while addressing the planning gaps the GAO identified.