The head of the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday he’s “confident” the technology issues at troubled Newark Liberty International Airport will be resolved by October.
“The (transportation) secretary has been very clear with me that we need to fix this, and we’re fixing this now,” Chris Rocheleau, the acting head of the FAA, told a House budget hearing Wednesday. “The second piece to that is the staffing. I think by October, we will be very healthy in there at staffing levels that we need.”
The FAA transferred air traffic control over Newark to a Philadelphia facility last July from New York, where it was previously located, a move seen as controversial by many controllers and the union that represents them.
Rocheleau’s remarks, before the House Appropriations subcommittee on transportation, come after the New Jersey airport experienced four air traffic control system outages in recent weeks, leaving pilots and controllers without communication at times. Those outages came amid ongoing staffing shortages for controllers and the construction of a runway, which was completed this week, earlier than anticipated.
“With the runway completed, we’ll continue our work to harden the telecoms infrastructure and improving the staffing pipeline for the airspace,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a statement.
The aging infrastructure and technology are some of the problems that could plague summer travel as Newark’s airport tries to get back to flying at full capacity. Experts warn to typically expect disruptions during summer travel due to the volume of travelers at US airports, but the added pressure on the system could cause delays or cancelations.
Last month, the Department of Transportation announced plans to build out a new air traffic control system.
Part of that includes strengthening the existing infrastructure at Newark for a seamless summer of travel. A new fiber optic cable is now in place between Philadelphia and New York to improve air traffic control telecommunications.
The FAA is seeking a company to build out the new system, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday. The agency issued a Request for Information for a company to implement a “brand new air traffic control system over the next three years.” It identified five areas of interest for a new system: telecommunications, radio communications, surveillance, automation and facilities.
Duffy has not disclosed how much the project would cost but has said he’s counting on Congress to deliver funding.
It’s also unclear how this will impact Verizon’s contract with the FAA to modernize the system. Verizon has a $2.4 billion contract to provide a long-sought upgrade to the FAA’s communications system, known as the FAA Enterprise Network Services, or FENS, program.
CNN reached out to the Department of Transportation for comment.
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