The Headaches at Newark Airport Could Continue For A While
Over 500 flights were affected on Monday, according to FlightAware, and already Tuesday, there have been 44 canceled outgoing flights and over 200 flights impacted by the issues.
Newark's problems stem from equipment failures, a shortage of air traffic control staffers and the closure of one of the facility's busiest runways. Right now, it looks like it might be a while before things get better.
On the runway front, NJ.com's Jeff Goldman wrote Tuesday that Runway 4L-22R, which handles nearly 47% of the airport's flight activity, is closed until June 15 for renovation. The runway reopens next month, but from Sept. 1 through the end of the year, will be closed on weekends between 11 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Sunday.
'Due to the volume of flights arriving and departing EWR (the closure) will significantly affect carriers' ability to operate reliably and on time,' federal officials said last November. 'Absent increased scheduling flexibility during the construction period, the FAA anticipates a high likelihood of congestion, delays, and cancellations at EWR.'
United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER wide body passenger aircraft spotted during take off, departing from Newark Liberty International Airport EWR serving New York Metropolitan area. The B777 airplane has the registration tail number N783UA and is powered by 2x Pratt & Whitney PW4090 jet engines. United Airlines with headquarters in Chicago is the largest airline in the world by destination and fleet size member of Star Alliance aviation alliance group. Newark, United States on November 2024 (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto/Getty Images
As for the equipment trouble, Galen Munroe, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, revealed Monday that back on April 28, a Philadelphia control center responsible for sorting flight traffic for Newark 'temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control,' and were 'unable to see, hear, or talk to them.'
Obviously, that's incredibly alarming, and the aftereffects of the outage have also been devastating. Munroe said that a number of controllers from the Philadelphia operation have utilized their rights under the Federal Employees Compensation Act, which allows employees who are injured or involved in a traumatic event at work to take leave without penalty.
As a result, Newark is short-staffed, and though the FAA has pledged to hire 2,000 new traffic controllers nationwide this year, those efforts aren't going to help the second-busiest airport in the New York area at the moment.
"Keep in mind, this particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, it's now clear – and the FAA tells us – that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead," United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a letter to customers last Friday.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MAY 05: A monitor shows flight delays at Newark International Airport on May 05, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. Delays and cancellations at one of the nation's busiest airports have persisted for about a week, with these disruptions continuing into Monday morning. Air traffic control outages, runway construction, and an announcement by United Airlines that over 20% of FAA controllers at Newark walked off the job have all contributed to delays and cancellations. (Photo by)United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Monday a plan to "radically transform" air traffic control and fix a problem that has been brewing for decades.
'We're going to build a brand-new air traffic control system — from new telecom, to new radars, to new infrastructure. We're bringing on new air traffic controllers,' Duffy said.
Duffy added that officials have slowed traffic down in Newark to help alleviate the congestion and make commuters "feel safe."
'When you have an incident like this, you want to make sure that people are safe,' Duffy said. 'And so, you just have less departures out of the airport until we feel comfortable and safe that the system isn't going to go down again.'
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