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By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - Major airline CEOs on Wednesday called on Congress to approve billions of dollars in funding to modernize the United States' aging air traffic control system, saying it is "failing Americans."

The Federal Aviation Administration's air traffic control network's woes have been years in the making. But a rush of high-profile mishaps, near-misses and a deadly January crash involving an American Airlines regional jet caused public alarm and prompted new calls for action.

In a joint letter, the airline executives cited recent failures involving Newark Airport and said the FAA's technology "is wildly out of date."

"Aviation remains the safest mode of transportation in the U.S., but for it to remain so, serious upgrades need to happen now," said the letter, citing a 2023 independent review that raised safety concerns.

The executives called for urgent action as the busy summer travel season begins with the Memorial Day holiday this weekend.

The FAA on Tuesday predicted a record number of Memorial Day holiday flights despite imposing temporary flight cuts at Newark due to runway construction, technology issues and persistent air traffic control staffing shortages.

The letter was signed by the heads of American Airlines AAL.O, United Airlines UAL.O, Delta Air Lines DAL.N, Southwest Airlines LUV.N, JetBlue Airways JBLU.O, Alaska Airlines, Atlas Air, trade group Airlines for America and senior executives at FedEx FDX.N and UPS UPS.N.

Airlines and others this month called for at least $31 billion in spending on air traffic reform.

The U.S. House is considering legislation that includes an initial $12.5 billion for air traffic control reform efforts.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants billions of dollars to replace outdated radar and telecommunications systems, air traffic control towers and other facilities and increase air traffic control staffing.

The FAA wants funding for new radios, network connections and to replace 618 radars, install anti-collision tarmac technology at 200 airports, build six new air traffic control centers and expand its ADS-B network of real-time aircraft traffic information.

The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Louise Heavens and Joe Bavier)

((David.Shepardson@thomsonreuters.com; 2028988324;))