AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It's one of the nation's busiest airports, but two communication outages at Newark Liberty International Airport in just two weeks are raising serious concerns about passenger safety. The incidents have created chaos at the airport, leading to the delay or cancellation of hundreds of flights. Last week, transportation secretary Sean Duffy called for a brand-new air traffic control system to address the problem.
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SEAN DUFFY: This is bold. This is going to be challenging, but we absolutely can do it.
RASCOE: Joining us now to talk about some of the challenges ahead is William McGee. He's a senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project. Welcome to the program.
WILLIAM MCGEE: Thanks very much for having me on.
RASCOE: So can you give us a sense of just how serious the issues are at Newark?
MCGEE: Well, this year marks my 40th year working in the airlines and writing about the airlines and advocating for airline passengers, and this is about as serious an issue as I've ever seen in terms of air traffic control and safety.
RASCOE: And what exactly is going on that makes you so concerned?
MCGEE: Well, it's a confluence of events, and it's been going on for many, many years. Every time I hear someone in Washington say they're surprised by what's been happening, I have to shake my head, to be very honest with you, because if we're looking to assign blame, then we can go back to the Reagan administration and every administration since and every Congress since. The fact is that in the United States, we have the most complex and largest air traffic control network in the world, and we lag dozens and dozens of other nations in terms of the number of controllers and in terms of the infrastructure and the technology.
RASCOE: So what are the challenges facing the sector? I mean, talk to me about that.
MCGEE: Sure. Based on who you talk to, we're either short 3,000 air traffic controllers in the United States currently or 3,500. Either way, it's an unacceptable number. Previous administration last year hired 2,000 new controllers. It still wasn't enough. They made an effort, but it didn't put us where we need to be. You know, right now, Newark Liberty International Airport is sort of the poster child for everything that's wrong with air traffic control. But we're really sort of playing whack-a-mole because, you know, we've had problems at other airports and other air traffic control centers all across the country - in the New York area, in Florida. You may recall that in recent summers, the FAA directed airlines to reduce their schedules and reduce the number of flights because there simply weren't enough controllers to handle it.
RASCOE: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy - he unveiled this sweeping plan to update old infrastructure. Do you think that plan goes far enough?
MCGEE: Well, I can't comment simply because he didn't give enough details. I watched every minute. I livestreamed it, and I tweeted about it. It went on for about 2 hours. You know, the devil is going to be in the details. President Trump joined Duffy by phone at one point, and he said something that really set off alarm bells for me. He said, we're going to give - in his words, President Trump - a big, beautiful contract to one company. Well, this is complex work. It involves hundreds and hundreds of facilities all across the country, airports all across the country. And there isn't one company that you sign a contract with - even if it is Elon Musk and Starlink, which many of us are worried about - that can fix this overnight. They're talking about an initial investment of $12.5 billion. That won't be even nearly enough.
RASCOE: You've covered this industry for decades, first as a journalist, but you also worked as an aircraft dispatcher. Given everything that you've seen and heard, how worried are you about the future of flight safety in this country?
MCGEE: You know, it's an excellent question because I'm usually someone that I think is a bit of a calming influence. And I usually say, look, you know, statistically, this is still by far, the safest form of transportation, and we need to put things in perspective. But I will tell you that I myself am a little worried right now because I just don't see the seriousness and the sense of purpose from this administration. We are getting such mixed messages from the president, from the secretary of transportation and then from Elon Musk, who is going in and, you know - he's the one that used, as a metaphor, a chainsaw. The FAA is not where we need to use a chainsaw, not by any means. There shouldn't be any cutting at the FAA unless it's proven to be, you know, waste of some kind. But this is an agency that has been understaffed and underfunded for four decades.
RASCOE: That's aviation expert William McGee. Thank you so much for joining us.
MCGEE: Thank you very much for having me on. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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