CONFLICT OF INTEREST

FAA Could Cancel $2.4B Verizon Air Traffic Control Contract and Give It to Elon Musk’s Starlink

Musk’s company could be about to take over vital air traffic control safety systems.

The Federal Aviation Administration is close to canceling a $2.4 billion contract with Verizon to provide vital air traffic control services in favor of Elon Musk’s Starlink, according to the Washington Post. Experts say giving Musk’s company the contract would add to existing conflicts of interests created by his closeness with President Donald Trump and his role at the cost-cutting DOGE organization. Employees from SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, are currently working inside the FAA under instructions from Musk and the Trump administration to upgrade the agency’s technology. “Who’s looking out for the public interest here when you get the person who’s cutting budgets and personnel from the FAA, suddenly trying to benefit from still another government contract?” said John P. Pelissero, director of an ethics center at Santa Clara University, speaking to the Post. Musk used his X account to attack Verizon on Tuesday, which he claims “is putting air travelers at serious risk.”