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Sherrill fed up with feds on airport

Wants deadlines for Newark upgrades

By: Colleen Wilson
and Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... U.S. Representative Mikle Sherrill is seeking deadlines from the U.S. Department of Transpiration for various improvements need at Newark Liberty International Airport, where flights have been severely disrupted in recent weeks. [05/09-15/2025]
..... Sherrill, a former U.S. Navy pilot and a Democrat running for governor in New Jersey, wrote to transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for specifics about when he expects to meet appropriate staff levels of air traffic controllers for Newark airspace and when technology upgrades will be completed.
..... "I am disappointed with the lack of urgency and action," Sherrill wrote in the letter, obtained first by NorthJersey.com .
..... On April 28, [2025] air traffic controllers overseeing Newark airspace from a Philadelphia control center, known as a TRACON, experienced a 20- to 90-second blackout when they could not see radar or communicate with aircraft.
..... Similar problems occurred again May 8 and May 11. [2025] On May 12, [2025] there was shut one air traffic controller and a trainee on the 6:30 to 9:30 PM. shift.
..... These combined issues, plus the outage of one of three runways a t Newark Airport for construction have forced airlines to cancel and delay thousands of flights in recent weeks.
..... Sherrill asked Duffy in her letter to provide a timeline of when the Federal Aviation Administration plans to shift air traffic controllees to Newark.
..... But the anser is not so simple.
..... An air traffic controller who has years of experience will still need a ear of training to work in a specific area, like one as complicated as Newark, Duffy said.
..... "I've offered to pay a bonus to air traffic controllers to not retire after 25 years to stay on the job," doughy said in response to questions from U.S. Representative Bonnie Watson Colemean during a congressional hearing May 14. [2025]
..... Duffy has also came up with financial incentives to move prospective air traffic controllers through medial clearances faster, like getting reports back in two weeks as opposed to months. This, he said, would help retain controllers in the pipeline and accelerate them through the hiring process.
..... When the Biden administration moved air traffic controller trained for Newark airspace to Philadelphia from Long Island last summer, [2024] they did no transfer the data feed. Therefore, radar date goes through Long Island before reaching Philadelphia - which means ever the smallest glitch can impair the feed.
..... Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey asked when radar data feeds, known as the STARS system, would be fully migrated over to Philadelphia.
..... Franklin McIntosch, the deputy chief operating officer of the air traffic organization at the FAA, said it's a priority, but he didn't have a specific timeline on when that will be completed, though he did say "12 months is a very conservative estimate."

Airport's copper wires replaced

..... Duffy said workers have upgraded Newark's Airport's aging and outdated copper wires, which also failed in recent weeks, replacing them with a fiber-optic cable. They are testing hat and hope to bring it Online soon, but the tech team will also need to figure och how to slow the transfer of data when it reaches old infrastructure that can't handle the speed.
..... "We're working at lightning speed and pace to get this resolved in Newark," Duffy said.
..... U.S. Representative Frank Palloone, another Democrat from New Jersey, criticized the Trump administration's decision to cut 400 FA employees in February [2025] as part of cost-cutting efforts led by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. The positions included logistics technicians, aeronautical information specialist and maintenance mechanics.
..... Duffy has repeatedly said the agency protected "safety critical" positions and did not fire any air traffic controllers and that ti was a small number of the overall 35,000 people who work at the FAA.
..... But William McGee, a senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project, said, "It's disingenuous of Secretary Duffy to dismiss those layoffs by saying 'Oh, it's only a small percentage of the overall staffing at FAA."
..... He continued: "why would you lay off technicians that monitor and fix them? Makes no sense whatsoever."

'Skinny budget'

..... Ultimately, many of the solutions to the problems at the FAA come down to money.
..... U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat, a Democrat from New York, questioned how Duffy could do all that he says he will do with a :skinny budget: of $18 billion proposed by the Trump administration. Espaillat said industry experts predict the FAA needs a minimum budget of 430 billion.
..... "As we go through the budget process, we're going to have to have a conversation, because this is very special what we need to do hear," Duffy said. The secretary pushed back when pressed on the Trump budget proposal and questioned why the Democrats didn't better address this when they controlled the purse strings a few years ago.
..... "You all spent $1.2 trillion" on the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, Duffy said. "This was a known problem, and virtually none of it went toward this infrastructure.
..... Underfunding at the FAA has been a problem for decades, but lawmakers of both parties have failed to address it.
..... Sherrill said she would invite the Department of Transportation to investigation the FAA's budget problems and why these issues haven't been addressed in the past.
..... "Happy to have the Department of Transportation investigate that and come up with a better process for the FAA," Sherrill said.
..... "But right now when we have a crisis at Newark Airport, what is [Duffy] doing today? [05/15/2025] And how is he going to make sure that people's lives are safe and that air traffic controllers aren't losing connection with the flights and that we have enough air traffic controllers in some of the nation;s busiest airspace?"
..... McGee said lawmakers need to be thoughtful and strategic when they reauthorized the FAA's budget this year, [2025] and identify how they want the dollars to be used.
..... "It's not just, 'Oh here's a check," McGee said.
..... It's got to be specific and the budget needs to be bigger, because the work needs to be done."
..... U.S. Representative Josh Gottheimer, another Democratic gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey, said he is waiting for Duffy to provide specifics about how much is needed to upgrade the technology and invest in hiring efforts. Gottheimer and his peers in Congress are considering an emergency funding bill to address the problems at Newark and other airports across the country.
..... "We certainly know what a lot of the problems are," Gottheimer said, but "we don't know what the dollar figures are yet."

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