- We're now joined by Jonathan Gooda, who is the Vice President of Operations at United Airlines in Newark.

Jon, good to see you.

- Good to see you too, Steve.

Thanks for having me.

- Good, let me ask you this: 23 years at United, I was told by our producer, Buki, that you still love your job.

All the challenges, all the obstacles, all the weather issues, and whatever else going on, you still love it because?

- I sure do, Steve, and I'm very happy to be here.

We have 14,000 incredible employees who call New Jersey and Newark home, and I get to lead and support all of them.

By the way, being a part of this New Jersey institution with you, a real honor.

So thank you for having me.

This job is a total joy.

And our team makes it so.

And we get an opportunity to take care of our customers and get them where they wanna go anywhere in the world.

- Absolutely, and let me disclose that United recently came on board as an underwriter of our programming.

Let me try this.

Safety.

Talk to folks about where we are with their safety concerns flying in and out of Newark or other, any airport around the country.

Go ahead, please.

- Absolutely.

First up, flying is incredibly safe.

It's the safest form of transportation.

Customers should feel incredibly safe flying out Newark.

Both the air traffic controllers, the pilots, the folks that work in the operations tower right here at Newark, are trained professionals and have been through months and years training to ensure that they're ready for any situation.

We also have layers of backup plans and backup contingencies with all those systems so customers can really book and travel out of Newark and feel confident about their safety.

- But Jon, help us understand, the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration plays a very important role in this process.

There are changes being made in the federal government vis-a-vis certain federal agencies, and that includes the FAA.

What's their role today?

And do you believe on any level their role has been compromised?

- I don't believe their role has been compromised, Steve.

And their role, as you say, is absolutely critical to the safety of our environment here.

Secretary Duffy has been on the ground with us in Newark talking to employees, meeting the team, and seeing some of those challenges firsthand.

And I am extremely confident that the plan that he and the DOT and the FAA have called forward to address those long-term infrastructure challenges is gonna be successful and get us exactly where we need to go in the future.

- Jon, are there caps, limits, restrictions, if you will, being made on how many flights a day?

Explain that to us, because of all the, some of the delays and backups, and I keep asking myself, was is the number of planes?

What is it?

Help us understand that, Jon.

- Sure, there was a couple of things this spring that took place, Steve.

One of the runways here closes.

It's a normal process, closes about every 10 years for runway resurfacing.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey did a great job, got that runway back open 13 days ahead of schedule.

And with a large infrastructure project like that, that's an amazing accomplishment by that team.

But the FAA, with Secretary Duffy's leadership, also took a step to cap the number of flights per hour in and out of Newark.

That cap right now through the end of October is 34 arrivals and 34 departures every hour.

So 68 operations in and out of the airport every hour.

That better matches the capability of the air traffic control system, and those caps enable our customers to keep moving, and those trips to operate safely in and out of the airport.

So much so, Steve, that once those caps went into place and United proactively reduce the schedule here of Newark too before the caps went into place, Newark was actually the most on-time, the most reliable airport in the whole New York City region, beating both JFK and LaGuardia.

So the caps that Secretary Duffy put in place are really helping us.

- Along those lines, I'm curious about this, you mentioned the air traffic controllers.

Help us understand, Jon, what exactly an air traffic controller does, and also how the training that they get prepares them to do what they need to do, and finally, if there are enough of them.

Go ahead.

- The training is incredibly rigorous.

Takes about two years We partner with them very closely at United and the Port Authority to make sure that the airport flows well.

But the training that they receive is world class and enables them to be prepared to take on the task of running traffic in one of the most complex air spaces anywhere in the world.

- We've had Kevin O'Toole, the chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Rick Cotton, the director as well on, and we've talked about a whole range of issues around Newark Airport.

As Newark Airport continues to become developed, redeveloped, improved, what impact does it have on United?

- I think that partnership with the Port Authority that you just talked about is so important for our customers, and it's also some important for our employees.

This is our hometown, and we are part of the infrastructure of this great state of New Jersey to allow people to get where they need to be.

Those investments that you see, an example, Steve would be the Terminal A, the New Terminal A that opened a couple years ago.

That partnership with the Port Authority has provided world-class amenities for our customers.

And hopefully you've had a chance to see it for yourself.

It's a beautiful facility, and it also balances some of the traffic with Terminal C, so the checkpoints flow a little bit better because we're balancing that customer volume out between two terminals.

So those type of investments that the Port Authority is making are good for customers and good for United and good for the region too.

- Before I let you go, Jon, I'm born and raised in New Jersey and people accuse us of having a Jersey accent.

Where did your Jersey accent come from?

- Yeah, people are definitely confused by my accent, Steve.

I grew up in London.

And this is actually my second tour here in New Jersey, so the accent is growing on me, and the state is a beautiful place to live.

- Well said.

And we're picking up that Jersey thing in you- - The climb, right?

- Yeah, exactly.

Jon, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you, Steve.

- Fly safe out there.

We'll be back right after this.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Congress Hall.

A Cape Resorts property.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Valley Bank.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

Newark Board of Education.

Delta Dental of New Jersey.

NJM Insurance Group.

And by New Jersey Sharing Network.

Promotional support provided by New Jersey Monthly.

And by BestofNJ.com.

- How long you been waiting?

- About a half hour.

- Brutal.

This keeps up, I'm gonna miss my pickleball game.

- I've been waiting eight years for a kidney.

What can you do?

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Over 100,000 people in the US are waiting for a life-saving transplant.

But you can do your part in an instant.

Register as an organ donor today at NJSN.org.