The Transportation Secretary Has a Burgeoning Crisis on His Hands at Newark Airport

Over the weekend, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy posted a nice shot of himself at home, making steak tacos. He Xweeted, "Nice to come home on a Friday night to home cooked steak tacos after a long week working at the DOT!" Meanwhile, events at Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J. suggested that maybe the Secretary might have wanted to get some nice takeout at his desk instead. From the Guardian:

As of Sunday morning, there were 210 delays and 88 cancellations at Newark Liberty international airport (EWR) in New Jersey, according to FlightAware. The large airport is one of the major hubs for New York city and its surrounding area. The weekend slowdown in operations came after United Airlines announced on Friday that it was cancelling 35 daily roundtrip flights from Newark due to poor technology and staffing issues surrounding the Federal Aviation Administration. In a statement on Friday, United Airlines’ CEO, Scott Kirby, said: “For many years, United has been very clear and vocal about the need to fix the Air Traffic Control system in EWR. While we enthusiastically support the efforts underway to permanently and structurally fix the FAA, the long-simmering FAA challenges boiled over this week.”

That last sentence is as pure an example of corporate weaselspeak as you're like ever to hear. We are suffering long-simmering challenges but, through them all, we enthusiastically support the clear cutting that Elon's Boyz are mindlessly doing at, among other places, the FAA.

Kirby went on to say that technology issues at the airport were compounded after more than 20% of the FAA controllers for EWR reportedly walked off the job. “Keep in mind, this particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, it’s now clear – and the FAA tells us – that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead,” he added. Explaining the cuts which come at an “already reduced schedule at Newark,” Kirby said the airline had no choice but to cancel the flights, as there is “no way to resolve the near-term structural FAA staffing issues.” He also said that United Airlines has been urging the government for years to limit the number of flights “to what the airport can realistically handle.”

A more direct quote was attributed to an anonymous air-traffic controller by Tom Costello of NBC News.

...Speaking to MSNBC correspondent Tom Costello, an air traffic controller said that it is not safe to fly out of Newark. “He said: ‘It is not safe. It is not a safe situation right now for the flying public,’” Costello told the Daily Beast, adding: “He just said that to me, and separately: ‘Don’t fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs.’”

That seems bad.

According to the FAA, the delays are caused by a shortage of air traffic controllers. As Donald Trump’s administration continues its mass federal firings including FAA safety workers despite a slew of deadly crashes since inauguration day, transportation secretary Sean Duffy is urging more people to become air traffic controllers. On Thursday, Duffy said at a press conference that the transportation department is seeking to increase employment at the FAA, aiming to hire at least 2,000 controllers this year.

It's hard for me to believe that people are not lining up to take one of the highest-pressure jobs in the world—and now one in which you operate under the danger that some distant dimwit in cargo shorts will eliminate your position because he had a bad night at D&D and because he works for a incompetent crew of suckers, liars, and losers.

The new campaign to hire more air traffic controllers comes just months after the US president baselessly claimed that Democrats and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies were responsible for falling aviation standards and the fatal Washington DC plane crash in January that killed 67 people. Following a string of deadly flight accidents, a February poll revealed that Americans’ confidence in aviation has slipped, with 64% of Americans said they believe air travel is very or somewhat safe – a decrease from 71% of Americans who indicated so last year.

It got lost in last week's news churn. but folks were playing bumper cars in the skies over Washington again. From NBC News:

Two commercial flights approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport were ordered to do “go-arounds” Thursday because of an Army helicopter, three months after a mid-air collision that killed 67 people, officials said. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Friday said he would demand answers from the Pentagon about the Black Hawk helicopter flight that forced the Delta Air Lines and Republic Airways planes to abandon their landings.

Demand away, Mr. Secretary. It won't solve the overall problem, which is the president you serve.