A veteran air-traffic controller at the facility that handles flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport is calling for more resources and speaking out about the intense pressures workers face amid a staffing shortage and tech outages.

At a House Appropriations Committee meeting yesterday regarding the Department of Transportation’s fiscal budget for 2026, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) referenced Duffy’s comments. She suggested that Duffy “diverted [his] wife from Newark airport to LaGuardia out of a sense of security.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. Former Blackhawk helicopter pilot and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has ordered a reduction of traffic at the airport for the “next several weeks,” insisting that it’s safe to fly out of New Jersey’s busiest airport, despite it using an “old” system, which he previously described as being run on “copper wire and floppy disks.”

A staffing shortage, runway construction and deferred maintenance to crucial air traffic technology have made Newark Airport a national laughingstock.

A portion of the Denver air route traffic control center experienced a 90-second loss of communications late Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admitted he changed his wife’s flight from Newark to LaGuardia just hours after claiming the troubled New Jersey airport was safe for the public.