Bering Air crash, left, Sen. Sullivan, center, EWR, right (NTSB, Getty, Getty)
"We help the entire country when people are traveling from the Lower 48 over to Asia," he said.
"What we need to do is we need to preemptively address challenges before they become tragedies," said Sullivan, who spoke out similarly at a commerce hearing with NTSB and FAA officials earlier this year.
He also cited a February passenger airliner crash in his own state, when a plane went down on Norton Sound's sea ice after leaving Unalakleet for Nome, killing 10.
"What happens, unfortunately, is too often tragedy is what inspires and motivates reform," he said, adding that the Department of Transportation should and likely will, under Secretary Sean Duffy, pivot to "predict[ing] and preempt[ing]."
On a recent tour of the Anchorage center, he spoke to FAA workers and saw how they, like other sectors, rely on 20th-century floppy disks and "strips of paper that are like post-it notes."
AK CAN BE ‘CURE TO THE NATION’S ILLS' WITH HELP FROM TRUMP ADMIN: GOV DUNLEAVY
Newark Airport in New Jersey (Getty)
"We have the safest aviation system in the world, but that doesn't happen through magic. That happens through diligence, through upgrading our technology."
While not directly addressing the situation in Newark, Sullivan praised the Trump administration’s "outstanding" response to the Unalakleet crash and predicted the Department of Transportation would handle the Newark-Liberty incident in a similarly effective manner.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has defended his tenure, writing on X that "we put safety first, drove down close calls, grew [ATC] and had zero commercial airline fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch."
Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.
Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.
Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.
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