FAA launches an emergency work group to ensure that security flies and leaves Newark

The Federal Aviation Administration is considering temporary reductions of flights inside and outside Newark Liberty International Airport, and is launching an emergency work group to guarantee security, among other updates of the system announced by the Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy at a press conference on Monday.

Duffy blamed the recent telecommunications problems at the Newark Liberty International Airport by the administration of former President Joe Biden, claiming that he handled a movement of New York air traffic control to Philadelphia in 2024.

He said the administration had moved the terminal radar approach control, or tracon, “without properly hardening the telecommunications lines that feed the data.”

“Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden did nothing to fix this system that they knew he was broken,” he said, he blamed his predecessor under Biden.

“Without addressing the underlying infrastructure, they added more risk to the system,” he added.

Duffy’s accusations occur after a team problem on Sunday led the Federal Aviation Administration to order a 45 -minute land stop at the New Jersey airport.

However, Duffy said the problem did not be technically in an interruption, because FAA had just performed a software update in the backup system on Friday night to avoid future interruptions.

“The software patch was successful, and our redundant lines are now working,” he said, confirming that the main line fell on Sunday, but the back line is not.

It was only “an abundance of caution” that traffic controllers closed the airspace for 45 minutes on Sunday, Duffy explained.

The interim administrator of the FAA, Chris Rocheau, also appeared at the press conference on Monday and announced that the agency was launching an emergency work group to ensure that trips inside and outside Newark remain safe and efficient.

The working group includes experts from FAA, Verizon and L3harris, a FAA contractor who intends to focus on “advanced defense and commercial technologies.”

Sunday’s incident marks the fourth time in the last two weeks that technical problems have interrupted air traffic in Newark.

Duffy also pointed out that the age of the telecommunications system contributed to recent issues.

“The system is so old that even when it has high -speed fiber information … the information must be slow down, it is too fast,” Duffy said, saying that the information could only travel to “the speed of copper cables.”

For that reason, he said that FAA has replaced copper lines with fiber lines in Newark, along with Laguardia airport in New York City and John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The new lines are currently being tested, he said, and the agency expects to make the change and have them completely operational by the end of May.

“The objective is to add three new telecommunications lines between New York and Philadelphia,” Duffy added. “This will provide more reliability and high -speed redundancy, so if one goes down, we are sure that others will stand up.”

In addition, the FAA will meet with the airlines on Wednesday to discuss possible flight reductions in the Newark, he said, echoing an announcement made last week by the FAA. Moving would be an effort to reduce the inception delays in progress to and from the airport.

During the meeting, the airlines will confidentially propose the flight cuts to the agency based on the congested deadlines identified by the FAA.

The United Airlines CEO, Scott Kirby, announced on May 2 that the airline was “unilaterally” cutting 35 round daily trips of its Newark calendar after several air traffic controllers were on a medical license after the interruption of April 28. Newark often has 80 or more flights per hour, Kirby said in the statement, calling the unsustainable number.

If approved, flight reductions are expected to remain in force all summer. A final decision will be made after the meeting, and the FAA will present the order to the Federal Registry.

Duffy said FAA is working closely with Verizon and L3Harris to determine the underlying cause of recurrent telecommunications problems and approach them accelerated.

He also said that he is asking the Inspector General’s office to carry out investigation into decisions taken by the last administration that could be linked to recent equipment failures.

Rocheeau reiterated that traveling inside and outside Newark is still safe, and the working group will continue to monitor the updates announced by Duffy.