Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said travelers sitting on tarmacs and stranded at airports during this busy season can thank Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for their travel woes.
The New York senator and other members of his delegation successfully lobbied against proposed changes to redesign the airspace in the busiest corridor of the country.
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The proposal would have also relocated about 30 New York-based employees for two years to Philadelphia to train controllers in training. Advocates believe allowing Philadelphia controllers to manage more Northeast airspace could reduce the burden on controllers in New York and New Jersey, improving congestion and potentially retention.
The Federal Aviation Administration's primary concern revolved around the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON, which manages the airspace around three major airports serving the New York City area. In a notice published in March, the agency stated TRACON was only operating at 54% of its ideal staffing target. In comparison, the national average for air traffic control staffing is about 81%. The staffing changes were intended to lessen the workload on TRACON.
Ultimately, in May, the FAA rescinded the initial order to transfer the air traffic controllers after protests by several Long Island workers and pressure from the New York congressional delegation.
Schumer actively lobbied against the move, saying this spring the change would go against the agency’s promise to keep TRACON employees on Long Island while they restructured staffing and the airspace operations of Newark. According to reporting from News 12 Long Island, the FAA said they agreed with Schumer and rescinded the transfer letters.
The agency told Senate staff that it was prepared to move the facility but reneged in May after hearing from Schumer’s office, according to a Senate staffer speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“The FAA’s facility in New York responsible for managing air traffic, N90, has been chronically understaffed for nearly two decades,” Cruz said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner. “Contributing to the staffing challenges and inefficiencies are local politics and special interests, which have blocked sensible, modest changes like redesigning the airspace with more efficient routes or consolidating controllers at a newer facility near Philadelphia.”
“Unfortunately, parochial interests are being put above the efficiency of America’s national air space and flying public’s experience. Ironically, this hurts New Yorkers the most,” Cruz, the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, added.
Schumer’s office and the FAA did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. The FAA acknowledged in the spring that understaffing at a key facility responsible for coordinating traffic near the New York area’s three major airports could cause delays this summer.
After a series of flight cancellations began in late June, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby took aim at the FAA in an internal memo, saying the short staffing left the agency unable to deal with inclement weather.
“The NY/NJ airspace, in particular, is understaffed. N90, which manages all the New York EWR airports, is also probably the most technically challenging job anywhere in the world of aviation which means that experience also makes a difference,” Kirby wrote.
Kirby also endorsed the FAA’s earlier plan to transfer air traffic controllers from Long Island to Philadelphia.
“We also are supportive of the FAA’s initiative to move EWR ATC from N90 to PHL which we and the FAA believe will help with operations at all three large NY area airports,” the memo said.
The turbulent weeks of travel followed a report by the Department of Transportation’s inspector general that found the agency had taken only limited steps to address shortages and warnings by the air traffic controllers union that too few employees were available.
In March, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called on airlines to reduce their flight schedules on the East Coast during the summer travel months after the DOT sounded the alarm about low staffing levels at the New York TRACON facility, which provides airspace support to airports across New York and New Jersey.
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A dispute in the Senate transportation committee over measures impacting pilot training has stalled progress toward FAA funding reauthorization, which is set to expire in September. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee has yet to reschedule the markup, and senators who serve on the panel have been unable to provide a timeline for the next steps.
The FAA plans to continue to pause the September transfer of responsibility for the Newark radar sector from New York to Philadelphia facilities.