Amid Flight Stop, Ari Emanuel Slams Pete Buttigieg for Making ‘Zero Progress’ Modernizing FAA: ‘You Left a Failing System in Place’

Ari Emanuel criticised former transport secretary Pete Buttigieg after an FAA ground stop halted air traffic on Friday, accusing him of failing to modernise the agency during his four years in office. The episode has renewed scrutiny of the air traffic control system and of responsibility for its condition.

Current transport secretary Sean Duffy said upgrades require funding from Congress and acknowledged that making changes may have contributed to instability, adding that he had not expected an outage. Emanuel’s post drew more than 3,000 comments, many challenging his focus on Buttigieg; Buttigieg, who was stranded at Denver airport, said he had questions after watching Duffy’s press conference.