- The FAA installed its 100th Surface Awareness Initiative system on September 2, 2026, expanding tower visibility across U.S. airports.
- The agency plans 44 more installations by year-end as it targets 220 towers lacking surface surveillance.
- Richmond International Airport received a $205,200 FAA grant to equip about 60 ground vehicles with transmitters.
The FAA installed its 100th Surface Awareness Initiative system on September 2, 2026, giving controllers at 100 U.S. towers a live view of aircraft and ground vehicles moving across runways and taxiways. The agency plans 44 more installations before the end of 2026, targeting airports that lack surface surveillance and reducing runway-incursion risk in areas where tower crews face blind spots.
The effect for passengers is mostly invisible. Controllers can identify surface traffic sooner, which can improve coordination and reduce conflicts before aircraft depart, land or cross active movement areas.
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The system becomes most useful in difficult conditions. Low visibility can hide traffic from the tower, while buildings, terrain or distance can place aircraft and vehicles outside direct sight.
The FAA says SAI gives controllers “a real-time picture of activity on an airport’s surface.”
The system is especially useful “when visibility is reduced or aircraft and vehicles are outside the tower’s direct line of sight.”
The agency uses Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, signals from aircraft and vehicles to populate controller displays with real-time surface movement. The technology is designed to improve “both runway efficiency and surface safety,” according to the FAA.
The FAA is extending coverage beyond 100 towers
The rollout has a defined national target. The current and planned figures show how much of the identified coverage gap remains:
| Rollout measure | FAA figure |
|---|---|
| Towers with the system operating | 100 |
| Towers identified as lacking surface surveillance capabilities | 220 |
| Additional airports planned by the end of 2026 | 44 |
| Installation pace | Doubled |
The agency says it has doubled the pace of installations. Its target covers all 220 towers identified as lacking the capability, while the next 44 airports are scheduled to receive systems before the year ends.
The recent expansion includes Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, Billings-Logan International Airport, Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport and Corpus Christi International Airport.
Those installations extend the same operating picture to airports with different traffic patterns and visibility challenges. Controllers use the displays to track aircraft and authorized airport vehicles sharing the surface.
A separate Richmond project will tag about 60 ground vehicles
Richmond International Airport is adding another layer of visibility through Vehicle Movement Area Transmitters. The project will equip about 60 ground vehicles after the airport received a $205,200 FAA grant.
The transmitters will cover baggage tractors, maintenance vehicles and other authorized airfield traffic. Controllers should be able to see those vehicles more clearly as they move around the airport.
This project focuses on vehicles rather than the national tower rollout. It addresses the same basic problem: ground traffic can become harder to track when operators cannot see the entire movement area directly.
The Richmond equipment will help controllers monitor service activity that passengers rarely notice. Baggage handling and maintenance continue around aircraft during busy airport operations.
The safety upgrade works where tower sightlines fail
Airports with complex ground traffic stand to gain the most from the added surveillance. The same is true when fog, heavy weather or other conditions limit what controllers can see from the tower.
Controllers still manage the movement area. The technology gives them more information to use while doing it.
That extra information can help reveal an aircraft or authorized vehicle sooner than a direct visual observation would. Earlier identification supports decisions about runway crossings, taxiway movements and other surface activity.
Travelers will not see a new checkpoint, boarding process or terminal procedure because of the installations. The upgrade operates behind the scenes, within air traffic control and airport ground operations.
The FAA’s Surface Awareness Initiative forms part of a broader air traffic control modernization effort. Its expansion combines airport-level equipment with data from aircraft and vehicles, filling visibility gaps that are especially difficult during low-visibility operations.
The agency’s next milestone is the planned installation of 44 additional systems by the end of 2026. That schedule would move the program closer to its stated coverage target of 220 towers.
