Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s Newark Liberty International Airport headache is worsening by the day.
President Donald Trump’s Cabinet member was harshly criticized for sharing a photo of himself and a plate of tacos—prepared by his “#LatinaWife”—while thousands remain stranded at one of the nation’s busiest airports and an air traffic controller warned about serious safety concerns at the nation’s 12th busiest airport.
An air traffic controller told an MSNBC journalist on Friday that “it is not safe” for the public to fly to and from the New Jersey airport after 20 percent of its air traffic controllers—who were part of an already-understaffed team—walked off the job.
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Duffy has not made a post to X since.
That air traffic controller’s dire warning came after a week filled with seemingly never-ending delays that forced Newark’s largest carrier, United Airlines, to cancel 35 of its daily flights indefinitely despite there being no notable inclement weather.
On Monday passengers suffered an eighth straight day of delays. Other airports are sucked into the delay maelstrom daily, having to find space on their tarmac for planes which can’t land at Newark.
Duffy, 53, has not ignored the growing crisis but has offered little on how the issue will be rectified in the coming days or weeks. He said Thursday he will ask Congress to shell out billions to reform U.S. air traffic control infrastructure.
He added that Newark’s problems resulted from equipment failures and staffing issues, claiming both need to be addressed before there is a “disaster.” He also announced that air traffic control candidates moving forward will receive a $5,000 bonus once they make it through the years-long program—an effort to boost recruitment.
Those promises have done little to curb criticism of Duffy, however. His politicking in the early days of MAGA 2.0 saw him strongly endorse the Department of Government Efficiency’s presence in the Federal Aviation Administration, including firing “several hundred” workers in February. That reportedly included air safety workers.
“DOGE is helping us cut out the woke nonsense, prioritize innovation, and remain mission-focused,” Duffy boasted in March. “This is how we deliver for the American people and usher in a Golden Age of travel.”
Duffy first gained fame as a cast member of The Real World: Boston before going on to serve as district attorney of Ashland County in Wisconsin and then as a Wisconsin congressman from 2011 to 2019. He was also a co-host on Fox Business.
A so-called Golden Age is yet to emerge. A poll in March by the travel news website The Points Guy revealed 65 percent of its respondents said they were more nervous about flying commercially after a spate of high-profile incidents. That included the mid-air collision of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines flight in Washington on Jan. 29, which left 67 dead, as well as a Delta Air Lines regional jet that flipped over and had its wings sheared on a runway in Toronto on Feb. 17.
More recently, on Thursday, an Army helicopter taking the scenic route along the Potomac River forced two passenger jets inbound to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to abort their landings and perform go-around maneuvers. Duffy called the incident “unacceptable,” but no action has been taken to bar military aircraft from encroaching upon the airport’s tight airspace.
There is also the Newark problem.
Flight tracking data showed that the average flight to Newark on Monday—not accounting for the dozens canceled outright—was delayed by four hours as of noon.
Flight Aware reported that by that same time on Monday, there were already 151 flight cancellations at Newark. That accounts for about 15 percent of the daily flights out of the airport, which is the 12th busiest in the U.S. by passenger volume.
By contrast, the nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport had six cancellations by 1 p.m. on Monday. LaGuardia had none.
Most troubling for passengers and officials alike, as The Bergen Record put it, is that there is “no end in sight” for Newark’s disruptions. United CEO Scott Kirby warned in a letter on Friday that “there is no way to resolve the near-term” issues. That means Newark’s week-from-hell to start May will likely become its new modus operandi.
It takes two to four years for someone to undergo the training needed to become an air traffic controller, making it hard to recruit and fill positions in a pinch. It is also not practical to pull existing air traffic controllers from elsewhere, as shortages at the position are a nationwide issue, making it all the more baffling that Musk’s DOGE goons tried to fire air traffic controllers this year before Duffy blocked them.
“We’re hoping in three to four years we can get to full staffing, not 20 years,” Duffy said last week. “How do you make up the gap? We can’t snap our fingers to make up the numbers.”
