Elon Musk made flying even worse so Palantir could profit

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The Verge investigates how DOGE's intervention in the FAA produced the opposite of its stated goal. Rather than delivering 'rapid safety upgrades,' the effort terminated 400 FAA employees — including maintenance technicians at 18 air traffic control centers — while failing to implement any major system upgrades. Musk's attempts to install Starlink as the FAA's telecom provider failed; he also incorrectly blamed Verizon for running the FAA's communications network. Most FAA contract money flowed primarily to Palantir and affiliated companies. The infrastructure degradation became visible: on August 6, 2026, the Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center lost radar and communications for two hours, disrupting over 1,100 flights across a nine-state area. A separate August 4 incident saw controllers nearly clear a commercial aircraft into the path of Marine One carrying the President. The operational consequences were significant: 2025 was the worst year for U.S. flight delays in over a decade, with 1 in 4 flights delayed, diverted, or canceled — nearly 1.7 million total disruptions. Tarmac delays jumped 64% year-over-year. The story illustrates how politically-directed tech disruption can degrade safety-critical infrastructure when AI/tech companies capture government contracts without delivering functional systems.