The FAA is rerouting air traffic over the eastern US to use GPS instead of ground beacons

The Federal Aviation Administration is changing several air traffic routes and adding new ones in the eastern United States. These changes mean planes will navigate using satellite GPS instead of older ground-based radio signals.

For decades, air travel relied on a network of ground radio beacons. This meant planes had to fly specific, often indirect, paths from beacon to beacon. Shifting to GPS navigation allows for more direct routes, which saves fuel and reduces flight times. This is part of a larger, slow transition to modernize the entire US air traffic control system.