Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed the Biden administration for the recent chaos at the Newark Liberty International Airport — accusing them of bungling last year’s move of air traffic control from New York to Philadelphia.

Duffy said his predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, failed to oversee a smooth transition of Newark’s airspace to the troubled Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (Tracon), in July 2024, creating problems that caused chaos on Friday and Sunday when air traffic control equipment experienced outages.

“Maybe when you work from home, or maybe when you work from Michigan as a secretary, maybe you’re not focused on the real issues that are taking place throughout the airspace,” Duffy said, taking a jab at Buttigieg. 

Duffy said his team has already installed a software update that should prevent terrifying full-outages of radar and communications — which have happened twice in recent weeks.

The success of the update was already being felt, he said. When the primary feed for communications and radar went down on Sunday, a backup allowed air traffic controls to continue to minor incoming and outgoing planes. The FAA imposed a 45-minute ground stop anyway, out of an abundance of caution, he Duffy added.

He said he is working with Verizon and L3Harris to speed up the installation of additional fiber optic data feeds between New York and the Philly Tracon, which would also buttress the system.

That, fix, however, will not happen until the end of May at the earliest.

Additionally, Duffy faulted the “Biden-Buttegieg administration” for failing to upgrade the Philly Tracon with the modern Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) — which is used at major air traffic control centers around the US, including in New York.

A STARS system will be added to Philly, but Duffy did not say how long that will take.

The transportation secretary added that he will be meeting with all major airlines on Wednesday to schedule reduced traffic at the New Jersey airport, with officials saying arrivals would be reduced to 56 per hour, down from up to 80.

“Families shouldn’t have to wait four or fire hours for flights that never take off,” Duffy said.

He said that the issues ultimately revolved around the outdated systems at the Philadelphia Tracon, describing the equipment as something that “looks out of the Apollo 13 set” and that should have been flagged for updates under the previous administration.

“We didn’t have to be here,” Duffy stressed. “This did not have to be our story. Over the last four years, the last administration, they knew this was a problem. And by the way, during COVID, when people weren’t flying, that was a perfect time to fix these problems.”

He previously said the equipment is so old that the government has to source replacement parts from Ebay.

Additionally, data flows into the facility has to be purposefully slowed down to accommodate the outdated copper wire system. 

Duffy said Newark will remain his top priority as he seeks to update all of America’s air traffic control systems.