2025 Summer Air Traffic Operational Summit Readout

WASHINGTON – The FAA is preparing for another busy summer travel season by meeting with airlines, general aviation representatives and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to discuss traffic management strategies, operator schedules and facility needs in the National Airspace System (NAS). 

The FAA’s Air Traffic Organization held its summer summit and had open and honest conversations about the state of air travel in the short- and long-term. There were discussions on numerous topics to keep passengers moving to their destination safely. 

• Efficiencies for Florida: The FAA is implementing new ultra-high sector airspace over the Jacksonville Air Route Traffic Control Center in Florida. This allows for more efficient “layers” over what has recently become one of the busiest airspaces in the NAS and leads to fewer delays. 
• Summer travel forecast and delays: Summer flight schedules are up 4 percent compared to last year.  
• This year, weather is the leading cause of delays across the NAS. In 2024, weather caused a 40 percent increase in delays compared to 2022-23. Participants discussed playbooks to keep aircraft moving safely around summer thunderstorms, using alternate routes and altitudes, and new strategies to deal with weather impacts, especially along the East Coast. 

The FAA is forecasting many days in the coming months with more than 50,000 total flights in the sky.  The FAA is also looking to develop playbooks to keep aircraft moving safely, using alternate routes and altitudes to reduce constrained areas with increased demand. 

• The FAA will also work with the military to make sure FAA can use special use airspace during very bust traffic periods. 
• Controller hiring and training: The FAA is focusing on hiring the best and brightest and making training more effective at the facility. Operators requested focus on staffing at Texas-area facilities and transparency on appropriate staffing levels across the NAS. NATCA representatives also emphasized the investment of simulators at facilities across the country, saying this technology reduces training time by 27 percent. 
• Focusing on telecommunication: The FAA is working closely with facility managers and vendors to address telecommunication issues experienced across the NAS, particularly in the Northeast. The FAA discussed making the increasingly busy Caribbean airspace more robust and reliable using ADS-B satellite technology and additional power sources. 
• Continue enhancements to surface safety: The FAA is continuing to roll out tools within the Surface Safety portfolio. The Surveillance Awareness Initiative is operational at 18 sites, Approach Runway Verification is operational at around 100 sites and the Runway Incursion Device is live at eight sites. 

Operators focused on continued communication on equipment issues impacting airports and educating pilots on space launches and how to report debris when the FAA implements a Debris Response Area.  

You can hear more about the summit from Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau in this video.