CBS Anchor Ed O’Keefe Asks United CEO Point-Blank: ‘Is It Safe to Be Flying In and Out of Newark?’
CBS anchor Ed O’Keefe reported on the recent problems at Newark airport on Sunday’s episode of Face the Nation, including interviewing the CEO of United Airlines Scott Kirby and asking him point-blank if it was safe to fly in and out of Newark.
The latest outage at Newark Liberty International Airport happened overnight and caused a 45-minute ground stop.
According to CNN aviation and transportation correspondent Pete Muntean, it was an air traffic control equipment outage — and the third in the past few weeks, including prior issues regarding radar and radio equipment.
O’Keefe began the show by reporting on the new outage to introduce an interview with Kirby. The interview was pre-taped on Saturday, before the most recent outage but they were still able to discuss the previous two.
“Newark is a major hub for United Airlines,” said O’Keefe. “We spoke Saturday, before this latest incident, with the airline’s CEO Scott Kirby and asked him, is it safe to be flying in and out of Newark right now?”
“It is absolutely is safe at Newark and in the entire country,” replied Kirby, offering this explanation:
The reason is when these kind of outages happen, we train for them, we have backup procedures, we have backups to backups to backups, to keep the skies safe, which is always the number one priority.
In situations like this, when the [May 9] radar outage happened at Newark, what happens is, the pilots look for alternative frequencies, they go to alternative centers with alternative radars.
And they also have a system in the airplane where they can see — it’s the equivalent of radar — they see their position in the air, in the sky, and all the other aircraft around them. What we do is slow the whole system down, which is disruptive to customers but it is entirely safe.
Kirby added that United had “proactively reduced flights” at Newark, and the FAA was working with other airlines to coordinate similar reductions. “Pruning the number of flights creates more space at the airport, allows the airport to operate effectively,” he said. “There is also runway construction going on over June 15. That will double the capacity when that happens.”
O’Keefe noted that pruning the schedule would mean less supply with demand usually increasing as summer starts. “Doesn’t that potentially mean the cost of a ticket is going up?”
Kirby said that was not happening because “there is less demand because there is concerns about safety,” and the airline had put bigger airplanes on Newark routes. “A larger airplane, fewer flights, bigger airplanes to maintain the number of seats that we have flying in and out of Newark.”
O’Keefe asked about passengers’ safety concerns, because United can control their aircraft, pilots, and schedule, “but you don’t control who is in the tower and how many people are in the tower,” so “how do you assure passengers, given the issues this year with the FAA?”
“We need to upgrade the system to make it world class,” Kirby acknowledged. “But the air traffic controllers are the best in the world. Incredible professionals. And they keep the skies safe. What happens when they are short staffed or there is a technology issue, they slow the airspace down. They put more miles between airplanes. That gives them the ability to manage and handle it. It leads to customer impacts, delay or cancel flights. But it keeps the system safe and that’s absolutely what they should do.”
O’Keefe pressed him further on passenger concerns. “There are still people out there who are genuinely just afraid to fly, especially given the incident here in Washington, the plane that flipped over on a runway up in Toronto, all of the near misses or the clipped wings. What do you say to that person who thinks, ‘okay, you say things are safe, but I see these other issues going on, why should I get on an airplane?'”
“I understand where they are coming from,” replied Kirby. “I read the same headlines they do. But it is the safest industry by far in the world. It’s the safest way to travel by far. The United States is the leader in safety of everyone around the globe. I know that. I am in it and I know it. I understand how people feel and empathize with that. I know that it’s safe because I spent my career, I know all the people in aviation, whether they work at united airlines, other airlines, the FAA. Safety is number one. It is in the core DNA of everyone.”
Watch the video above via CBS News.
