Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy vows to modernize America’s air-traffic control system — and not a moment too soon. Especially for Newark Liberty International Airport.
Last week, a burnt out copper wire triggered a 90-second radar and communications blackout that left controllers blind to arriving and departing planes.
Meanwhile, thousands of Newark flights have been canceled, delayed or diverted, thanks in part to an air-traffic-controller shortage as well as a rehab project that’s closed one of its two main runways.
United Airlines, which operates 75% of Newark’s flights, is cutting back its schedule there and even offering free rebooking to avoid Newark connections.
But New York is the largest city in the most important nation on Earth; without Newark, the metro area would have just one international airport, Kennedy. Paris has three; London, six.
The region needs a second international airport (if not a third) that runs well; too bad the Port Authority, which operates the airports, has devolved into a corrupt pork farm that serves vested interests far better than the general public and has long resisted common-sense reforms.
But the Code Red isn’t just for Newark: The whole country faces a critical lack of air-traffic controllers, with the Federal Aviation Administration looking to hire another 3,000 even as union rules further complicate management issues.
Plus, equipment is old, faulty and out of date.
The Government Accountability Office says three out of four FAA systems may have “critical operational impacts.”
Congress ordered a modernization in 2003, but key system upgrades, per the GAO, are at least six to 10 years off.
Will it take a disaster to spark quicker action?
Maybe not: Duffy plans to roll out a major plan Thursday to address infrastructure woes, and has already offered $5,000 bonuses to boost ATC recruitment.
“We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks,” he vows.
“We’re going to build a brand new air-traffic-control system, from new telecom to new radars to new infrastructure.”
Actually, America’s best bet might be to do what many other nations have done: privatize air-traffic control.
The fact is that politics hamstrings the FAA, slowing modernization as government rules and bureaucracy also drag out upgrades and create a work culture that leads to high turnover.
