Newark’s air traffic outages were just the tip of the iceberg
On June 2nd, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy traveled to Newark Liberty International Airport to celebrate the reopening of runway 4L-22R. This was unusual: few runway openings are glamorous enough to warrant a visit from the airport's CEO, let alone a cabinet secretary. But as we reported last month, few airports have come to symbolize […]
On June 2nd, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy traveled to Newark Liberty International Airport to celebrate the reopening of runway 4L-22R. This was unusual: few runway openings are glamorous enough to warrant a visit from the airport's CEO, let alone a cabinet secretary. But as we reported last month, few airports have come to symbolize USDOT's mismanagement of the air traffic control system as much as Newark.
The ceremony and press conference was meant to transform Newark into a different symbol - one of progress and action. In his speech, Duffy positioned Newark's problems as solvable, and the people onstage - who included the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)'s Acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, and several other dignitaries - as the problem-solvers.
Together, they'd gotten union labor to rebuild a runway in 47 days instead of 60; they'd convinced Verizon to expedite a new fiber-optic cable; they'd identified and fixed the "glitch in the system" that left Newark's air traffic controllers blind and unable to speak to pilots for several terrifying minutes.
Because of this whirlwind of activity, Rocheleau expected that Newark wou …
