Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Plans to Reduce Flight Capacity at Newark Airport

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to reduce the number of flights in and out of the Newark Liberty International Airport for the “next several weeks,” as New Jersey's largest airport struggles with radar outages and numerous flight delays and cancellations due to a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Speaking on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Duffy said he will convene a meeting with all the airlines flying out of Newark this week to determine the reduction, adding that it will fluctuate, with a larger reduction coming in the afternoons when international 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 said. “That is the priority. So you don’t get to the airport, wait four hours, and then get delayed.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said radar at the facility in Philadelphia that directs planes in and out of Newark airport went black for 90 seconds at 3:55 a.m. Friday, similar to an April 28 incident.

There has been an average of 34 arrival cancellations per day since mid-April at Newark, according to the FAA, with the number of delays increasing throughout the day from an average of five in the mornings to 16 by the evening. They tend to last 85 to 137 minutes on average.

The Trump administration proposed a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the U.S. air traffic control system Thursday that includes six new air traffic control centers and technology and communications upgrades at all of the nation’s air traffic facilities over the next three or four years.

Duffy said Sunday that he also plans to raise the mandatory retirement age for air traffic controllers from 56 to 61, as he tries to navigate a shortage of about 3,000 people in that specialized position.

He plans to give those air traffic controllers a 20% upfront bonus to stay on the job. However, he says many air traffic controllers choose to retire after 25 years of service, which means many retire around the age of 50.

“These are not overnight fixes,” Duffy said. “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.”