Andy Kim says the FAA hasn’t been transparent about radar outages as Transportation Secretary says they’re fast-tracking fixes to Newark

Sen. Andy Kim is calling for more transparency from President Donald Trump’s administration after visiting with air traffic controllers in Philadelphia who have faced radar outages for flights going in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport.

“The main thing that we need to clear up to the American people is when and how are they going to get assurances that there will be no more blackouts?” Kim said in an interview on Monday. “That is a goal that is necessary, and we should have that answer immediately. We should have had it days ago.”

Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, visited air traffic controllers in Philadelphia and Newark on Saturday, just one day after the second outage in two weeks took place on Friday at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), a facility where air traffic controllers direct planes in and out of Newark. Another outage took place just the next day, on Sunday, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had previously referenced the issue on Sunday as a “telecommunications issue.”

The FAA has been scaling back Newark flights as a safety precaution, causing flight delays and cancellations. Five controllers went on trauma leave after the late April outage.

Duffy said that along with staffing issues, the country’s air traffic control system is too old and he wants to revamp it.

“We don‘t want more Newarks to happen throughout the country,” he said in a press briefing on Monday.

In the briefing, Duffy repeatedly blamed President Joe Biden‘s administration for not fixing problems with the system. He said that “temporary software fixes” should prevent future outages at Newark and that the FAA is “assembling a tiger team of experts” to fast-track issues impacting Newark.

But Kim said in an interview earlier in the day that he, along with the air traffic controllers who faced the outages, were not provided an explanation as to what exactly went wrong and what would be done to address the problems for Newark. His office said his concerns about transparency remained after Duffy’s briefing.

“We need to know exactly what is causing these blackouts,” Kim said. “If the people that are working this day in and day out, 24 hours a day, aren‘t being told about this, if the American people are not being told about this, I just find that to be irresponsible and reckless.”

Kim said Philadelphia staffers told him on Saturday that there had been upward of six to eight outages since they were transferred from a Long Island facility last summer in a move he criticized as rushed. Duffy said Monday he will order an investigation into that transfer, which took place during Biden’s term.

Kim said the Philly facility’s infrastructure isn‘t up to par with facilities across the country. The Philly controllers told him that dealing with the Newark airspace is “just completely different” than others across the country.

“They’re just there in front of the radar scopes just with this constant anxiety of like, when is that going to happen again?” Kim said. “When their staffing is only two-thirds of what they had last year, which was already less than what they needed, and ... they are certainly not being given the kind of backing that they deserve.”

Duffy said that as his agency addresses issues in Newark, he is concerned similar situations could pop up around the country.

The Trump administration recently proposed a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the U.S. air traffic control system, envisioning six new air traffic control centers and technology and communications upgrades at all of the nation‘s air traffic facilities over the next three or four years. Congress would need to approve it.

“This is a plan to build everything new,” Duffy said. “It’s going to be complicated.”

Kim hasn‘t been impressed with the level of detail provided so far from the administration when it comes to addressing the problems with the FAA and specific needs at Newark.

“When they just say they’re reducing flights, it‘s causing more panic without actually being able to help people understand what is the magnitude of this problem and how long will it take to fix and that‘s just causing even more anxiety out there, across New Jersey, and, frankly, across the country, as so many people are transiting,” Kim said prior to Duffy’s briefing.

Duffy had previously emphasized that the FAA is decreasing flights from Newark to address safety concerns, but he said in his briefing that the FAA replaced copper lines with fiber lines over the past couple of weeks at Newark, JFK, and LaGuardia airports, which will be tested in the coming weeks before going live. He also said the FAA is working with Verizon and L3Harris to add telecommunication lines between Newark and Philadelphia.

As of 5:15 p.m., there had been 217 delays and 86 cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday, according to FlightAware.

Trump’s administration cut about 400 FAA jobs earlier this year. His administration said none of those people had “critical safety” roles but a union representing laid-off workers said otherwise. Duffy said on NBC on Sunday that none of the probationary employees who were cut held safety positions and that the agency has actually hired more air traffic controllers.

This article includes information from the Associated Press.