DOT Secretary blames Biden administration for air traffic control failures as Newark experiences more delays

The Biden administration is to blame for the ongoing air traffic control failures at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport, and throughout the system, Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday.

“I think it is clear that the blame belongs with the last administration,” he said in a press conference at the DOT headquarters. “Pete Buttigieg and Joe Biden did nothing to fix the system that they knew was broken.”

Chris Meagher, a Buttigieg adviser, said Duffy “needs to spend more time doing what the American people are paying him to do — fix problems — and less time blaming others.”

Duffy’s comments come after over two weeks of ground delays and system outages at Newark Airport, where airlines have canceled and delayed flights.

Monday afternoon flight delays at Newark averaged more than an hour and 40 minutes, according to an advisory from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Duffy said he is going to request the inspector general to open an investigation “into the failures of the last administration” and the move of controllers handling flights in and out of Newark from New York to Philadelphia to a facility now known as PHL TRACON Area C.

“There was a number of things that weren’t done in preparation for the move, which has left us in the situation in which we now have,” he said. “What I’m criticizing is the fact that I don’t believe that telecom was adequately tested.”