By The Related Press
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to cut back the variety of flights out and in of the Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport for the “next several weeks,” as New Jersey’s largest airport struggles with radar outages and quite a few flight delays and cancellations as a result of a scarcity of air site visitors controllers.
Talking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Duffy mentioned he’ll convene a gathering with all of the airways flying out of Newark this week to find out the discount, including that it’ll fluctuate, with a bigger discount coming within the afternoons when worldwide flight arrivals make the airport busier.
“We want to have a number of flights that if you book your flight, you know it’s going to fly, right?” he mentioned. “That is the priority. So you don’t get to the airport, wait four hours, and then get delayed.”
The Federal Aviation Administration mentioned radar on the facility in Philadelphia that directs planes out and in of Newark airport went black for 90 seconds at 3:55 a.m. Friday, much like an April 28 incident.
There was a median of 34 arrival cancellations per day since mid-April at Newark, based on the FAA, with the variety of delays rising all through the day from a median of 5 within the mornings to 16 by the night. They have a tendency to final 85 to 137 minutes on common.
The Trump administration proposed a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the U.S. air site visitors management system Thursday that features six new air site visitors management facilities and expertise and communications upgrades at the entire nation’s air site visitors amenities over the following three or 4 years.
Duffy mentioned Sunday that he additionally plans to lift the necessary retirement age for air site visitors controllers from 56 to 61, as he tries to navigate a scarcity of about 3,000 individuals in that specialised place.
He plans to present these air site visitors controllers a 20% upfront bonus to remain on the job. Nonetheless, he says many air site visitors controllers select to retire after 25 years of service, which suggests many retire across the age of fifty.
“These are not overnight fixes,” Duffy mentioned. “But as we go up — one, two years, older guys on the job, younger guys coming in, men and women — we can make up that 3,000-person difference.”
Including extra air site visitors controllers is in distinction to a prime precedence of the Trump administration — slashing jobs in almost all different federal companies. Nonetheless, United Airways CEO Scott Kirby mentioned on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Duffy deserves credit score for placing “caution tape” round FAA security features and separating these personnel from DOGE cost-cutting.
Kirby mentioned United has already decreased its schedule at Newark, and can meet with Duffy later this week. He expects a deeper reduce in capability to final till June 15 when development to one in all Newark’s runways is anticipated to be full, although he thinks some reductions will final all through the summer season.
“We have fewer flights, but we keep everything safe, and we get the airplane safely on the ground,” Kirby mentioned. “Safety is number one, and so I’m not worried about safety. I am worried about customer delays and impacts.”
Initially Revealed: Might 11, 2025 at 9:01 AM EDT
