Schumer Calls On Transportation Secretary Duffy To 'immediately Fix' Newark Airport Situation

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is demanding U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy "immediately hole nan business astatine Newark Airport," pursuing a agelong of recreation mishaps and chaos. 

"When group perceive astir radar screens conscionable going dark, postulation controllers who cannot talk to planes, exertion that is seemingly moving nary amended than tin cans, they do not deliberation this is simply a communicative astir nan Trump administration’s FAA, but that is what is truthful scary: this communicative is existent and this communicative is dangerous. This business is besides unacceptable," Schumer said successful a connection connected Sunday.

"I person communicated this past week pinch nan FAA, and I consciousness nary amended coming than a week agone astir nan authorities of aviation information since this management took nan controls astatine FAA. As I said past week, Newark is simply a harbinger. If this vulnerable business tin hap successful nan metro region, ideate what mightiness hap successful places wherever location is little scrutiny. This really makes you worry."

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called connected Secretary Duffy to instantly hole nan business astatine Newark Airport. (Getty Images)

On Thursday, much than 500 flights successful and retired of Newark were delayed and astatine slightest 200 others were canceled, and chaos followed passim nan weekend.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed nan business connected mediocre exertion successful an X post.

NEWARK AIRPORT DISRUPTIONS LEAVE AIRLINE FLYERS SCRAMBLING AS EXPERTS SHARE TIPS FOR NOT BEING 'STRANDED'

Airplanes beryllium parked astatine gates astatine Terminal A astatine Newark Liberty International Airport connected Dec. 4, 2024, successful Newark, N.J. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

"The exertion that we are utilizing is old. That’s what is causing nan outages and delays we are seeing astatine Newark," Duffy wrote.

Schumer stated location person been an mean of 34 presence cancellations per time since mid-April astatine Newark, according to nan FAA, pinch nan number of delays expanding passim nan time from an mean of 5 successful nan mornings to 16 by nan evening. They thin to past 85 to 137 minutes connected average, reports say.

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Travelers are seen astatine nan Newark Liberty International Airport up of Thanksgiving connected Nov. 26, 2024. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

On Sunday, Schumer said Duffy "must put Newark first successful statement for fixes he said would beryllium made to nan nation’s ATC systems." 

He besides gave circumstantial specifications astir nan activity that needs to beryllium done, including installing a DIRECT fiber-optic telco statement betwixt Newark Airport and Philadelphia terminal radar attack power center, nary much indirect runaround. Schumer called for a "modernized, nonstop relationship and caller computers to analyse and show transmitted data."

In a lengthy connection obtained by Fox News and Fox Business, nan FAA acknowledged that "several awesome airlines are facing ongoing formation disruptions astatine New Jersey's Newark-Liberty International Airport arsenic nan installation contends pinch ongoing staffing and exertion issues."

"Last week, aerial postulation controllers astatine nan Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facility successful Philadelphia mislaid radar and power signals while directing planes to Newark for astir 90 seconds, causing important delays and formation cancellations that stay ongoing," nan connection continued.

"We are moving to guarantee nan existent telecommunications instrumentality is much reliable successful nan New York area by establishing a much resilient and redundant configuration pinch nan section speech carriers. In addition, we are updating our automation strategy to amended resiliency."

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When reached by Fox News Digital, a typical for Duffy pointed to an question and reply nan caput gave earlier successful nan time to FOX Business' "The Evening Edit."

"I emotion Democrats who are now each concerned astir aerial postulation control," Duffy said. 

"They spent $1.2 trillion successful nan Biden-Buttigieg era; $1 .2 trillion connected American infrastructure, and they didn't walk thing connected aerial postulation [control] and they knew it was getting aged and needed a monolithic rebuild. They didn't do it. Now they're complaining during nan Trump administration, we're nan ones that are."

Fox News Digital's Andrea Margolis and Charles Creitz contributed to this report. 

Stepheny Price is simply a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, nationalist crime cases, forbidden immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas tin beryllium sent to stepheny.price@fox.com