The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is improving airport safety by investing $16.5 million from President Donald J. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill to equip all its airport vehicles with transponders that help air traffic controllers identify and track them on runways and taxiways.

The $16.5 million will be spent equipping around 1,900 vehicles at the 44 airports that have ASDE-X and ASSC, as well as the 220 airports that have or will be getting Surface Awareness Initiative (SAI) surveillance systems.

The roll-out of the transponders has accelerated since an accident on March 22 at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, in which an Air Canada jet struck an unequipped Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle after landing. Two pilots died and 41 passengers were hospitalized after the incident.

The FAA also reminded airports this week that they can use federal grant money to install transponders on their vehicles and recommends they encourage airlines and others that operate on the airfield to follow suit. More than 50 airports have already expressed interest in these devices, and the FAA is exploring additional ways to get this equipment into more vehicles.

“Vehicle Movement Area Transmitters help prevent dangerous runway incidents, and by accelerating the deployment of this technology, we’re closing critical visibility gaps on our nation’s runways and taxiways,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “This initiative is yet another example of our commitment to proactive safety improvements and strong collaboration across the aviation community.”

Vehicle Movement Area Transmitters (VMATs) track vehicles at airports that have surface surveillance systems. They appear on controllers’ screens with their identities and call signs. Vehicles without VMATs appear only as blue diamonds on controllers’ screens with no identifying information.

The FAA said it will complete the work as soon as possible based on the availability of transponder units.

Source: FAA