The Federal Aviation Administration plans to install a new information display at 435 sites by the end of 2028, replacing four older systems that controllers use to look up weather, equipment outages and flight notices. Some of that older equipment relies on floppy disks. The rollout announced November 5 covers the screens and software that bring those updates to controllers, one part of a much larger overhaul of air traffic control.
The FAA’s first five sites include Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey, Nashville International Airport in Tennessee and Greater Rochester International Airport in New York. The other two are data processing hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City. The list gives a sense of what the agency means by 435 sites: it includes facilities behind the scenes as well as airports where passengers board flights.
What controllers will see on the new displays
The Enterprise Information Display System, or E-IDS, puts information from several sources on one digital display. A controller can use it to see weather advisories, equipment status, changes to restricted airspace and other operational notices. The FAA says the platform will let controllers share those updates across its air traffic network. The equipment being replaced serves both airport-area operations and facilities that control aircraft between airports.
Two kinds of updates explain why the display matters. A pilot report is a firsthand account of conditions encountered in flight. A pilot can report turbulence or icing at a particular altitude, giving controllers and other crews information from an aircraft that has just passed through. A Notice to Airmen can flag a runway closure or another temporary change relevant to flight operations. The FAA’s technical description identifies both handling pilot reports and distributing notices promptly as problems the new display is meant to address.
One of the four older displays serves automated surface weather observations. Another serves en route operations. Putting those functions on a common platform gives the agency a way to circulate information across facilities and maintain a common system. The FAA also expects fewer workarounds and less repair work on equipment it describes as reaching the end of its useful life. Its announcement gives a deployment target and describes the intended benefits. It gives no measured change in delays or repair costs from the first installations.
What the 2028 date covers
The plan has been in development for years. The FAA awarded the original E-IDS contract to Leidos in 2020, and its November announcement names the first facilities in the rollout. The end of 2028 is the agency’s target for this particular display system. Its broader modernization program also covers other equipment and infrastructure, including communications and radar. Those projects have separate work and milestones. The FAA’s Modern Skies tracker lets readers look up projects by state and airport.
A 2024 Government Accountability Office report puts the scope in perspective. In an assessment after a 2023 outage, the FAA rated 51 of its 138 air traffic control systems unsustainable and another 54 potentially unsustainable. Those figures describe the network at the time of the assessment. They cover many more systems than the four displays in this rollout.
For travelers, an airport’s appearance on the display list tells you about a planned or underway equipment change. It gives you no forecast for your flight. If you are checking a connection or a same-day departure, the FAA’s daily air traffic report describes expected airport-level disruptions. The airline can tell you whether your specific flight is delayed or canceled. On November 2, for example, delays continued at Fort Lauderdale after a ground stop ended. A facility can gain a better way to share weather and runway information while still facing weather that limits how many planes can land or take off.
