Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy urged lawmakers to secure tens of billions of dollars in funding to revamp the nation’s overburdened Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control systems.

The plan calls for six new air traffic control centres, along with an array of technology and communications upgrades over the next three or four years.

Officials promised to replace derelict equipment with state-of-the-art technology but said funding was dependent on Congress.

More than a dozen airport towers would be revamped, and the agency’s telecommunications network would be replaced with new fiber, wireless and satellite systems over the next three years.

Following a deadly midair collision and a string of alarming technical failures, the federal government unveiled a sweeping ...