US proposes to extend Newark airport flight cuts through October 2026
In May, the FAA ordered flight cuts at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport through the end of 2025 following a series of major disruptions at the United Airlines hub (UAL.O), opens new tab that snarled hundreds of flights and sparked alarm about the aging U.S. air traffic control system.
The FAA said on Friday the goal of the reduced flight rates is to "continue maintaining safety while alleviating flight delays due to staffing and equipment challenges, resulting in smoother travel into and out of Newark."
Last month, the Transportation Department Office of Inspector General said it would investigate the FAA's 2024 decision to relocate some Newark air traffic controllers to Philadelphia from New York to address staffing shortages and congested New York City-area airspace. The review came after two serious communications outages for air traffic controllers overseeing Newark's airspace in April and May.
The FAA required 17 air traffic controllers to move from New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, known as N90, to Philadelphia in late July last year. New York TRACON is one of the busiest U.S. facilities. The FAA said "persistent low staffing levels and low training success rate" at N90 were among the reasons to move control of the Newark airspace in a bid to boost staffing levels and help ease congestion.
In July, the FAA extended cuts to minimum flight requirements at congested New York City airports through October 2026.
The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. A series of near-miss incidents has raised safety concerns in recent years, while the persistent staffing shortage has delayed flights and forced controllers at many facilities to work mandatory overtime and six-day weeks.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
California city named world's most relaxing...but it's beaches are strewn with SEWAGE from nearby southern border
San Diego has been named the world's most relaxing city - but the tranquility of its golden beaches are under threat from sewage seeping in from the southern border. The California city was ranked first as the 'top city to unwind' based on metrics including spa access, air quality, sunshine hours, happiness and natural spaces. International eSIM provider Holafly gave the coastal metropolis a 'relaxation score' of 68.7 out of 100, followed by Singapore with 66.8 and Vienna, Austria with 63.5. This owed in large part to San Diego having 'the sunniest climate' among the cities listed, with an average of eight hours and nine minutes of bright sunlight per day. The picturesque city's balmy climate draws flocks of residents and tourists to South Mission and Central Beach each year - but the tides have turned in recent months. Analysis of the beaches on both sides of the southern border over the past two years have detected alarming levels of fecal matter in the water stretching 50 miles north of the US-Mexico coastal border, scientists have warned. One Coast Project and Permanent Forum of Binational Waters researchers have said fecal bacteria in the sea exceeded health standards almost every day of the year. The groups have collected water samples since 1999 along 65 miles of western coastline from Carlsbad, California, to Baja California in Mexico. Extremely high levels of enterococci bacteria, which can cause serious infections, were detected in Southern California beaches over the spring in particular. Researchers said they found an average of 15,000 units of the bacterium pre 100 milliliters of water, which is almost 100 times the legal limit in the US and Mexico. Enterococci comes from fecal contamination, and it can cause gnarly gastrointestinal, skin, urinary tract and even heart infections. The bacteria type has been found much more frequently in San Diego waters since 2020, after a sharp rise in the contamination on the Mexican side in 2018. Director of One Coast Project Rosario Sanchez told Fox News there are very different testing protocols on each side of the border. 'In the U.S. side, there's more standardized procedures in terms of how often testing is done, basically daily, but on the Mexico side it can be just once a month if that,' she said. Sanchez said that coastal water quality is way off meeting basic health standards for more than 325 days per year across the coastline. 'This has impacts on both sides on both sides of the border, we're not talking just water quality, but we're talking about health,' she said. The contamination in San Diego is also compounded by toxic sewage spills from the Tijuana River Valley on the south side of the border city. Californians living in the Imperial Beach area have complained about respiratory problems and other complications that they believe are linked to the waste in the river. According to the San Diego Coastkeeper, the 'failing sewage infrastructure in Mexico' and 'negligent operation of the South Bay Plant by the US government' are to blame for the pollution and smell. On the US side, crews have placed riprap - large rocks - in the river in an attempt to stop the foul smell of sewage from plaguing the valley. In Mexico, environment groups are working to replace a section of an ageing sewage pipeline with a newer one made of concrete. However, the only way to rebuild the pipeline with minimal pollution was to allow sewage waste to run through the river during the construction. The International Boundary and Water Commission, a federal government agency monitoring the waterways between Mexico and the US, announced on April 9 that the team in Mexico would be working around the clock to fix the pipeline. The US side of the IBWC said Mexico had informed them that the decision to dump five million gallons of wastewater a day into the river was a 'difficult decision,' but there were no other alternatives to fixing the sewage problem. The IBWC said that even though the sewage dump was 'bad news,' the decision was the best way to prevent wastewater from polluting the Tijuana River long-term.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Trump and Putin are set to meet Friday afternoon in Anchorage. Its mayor says the summit can ‘showcase the city'
The Alaskan city of Anchorage, surrounded by dramatic peaks, will provide the backdrop for the highly anticipated summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. As all eyes will be on the southern-central city Friday afternoon as the two men are set to meet for a one-on-one meeting. A press conference could happen after, but it's unclear if both world leaders will be involved. The run-up to the summit sparked guesses about which world city would host the meeting, until Alaska was announced as host for the summit aimed at ending the war with Ukraine. Now, Alaska officials say it's an opportunity for Anchorage to show the world just how important it is. 'Alaska is the crossroads of the world,' Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said this week. 'We are a strategic global location in so many ways. For our closeness to the Arctic, for our military presence, we have like 25,000 active duty personnel here in Alaska, for trade, for cargo, our cargo airport is one of the busiest in the world.' 'As far as what this means for Alaska, what it means for Anchorage, it's an opportunity to highlight our city, and to show the world how important we are,' LaFrance added. Alaska's GOP Senator, Lisa Murkowski, said it was 'another opportunity for the Arctic to serve as a venue that brings together world leaders to forge meaningful agreements,' though added she was 'deeply wary of Putin and his regime.' Anchorage is the Last Frontier state's 'biggest small town,' and with a population of around 300,000, and it is Alaska's most populous city, according to the National Park Service. During the summer, residents experience about 19 hours of sunlight a day as the sun barely dips below the horizon. In the winter, when thick snow caps the mountains surrounding the city, it's only daylight for around 5 hours. Presidents have met with world leaders and notable figures at the base in Anchorage in recent history, partly due to its convenient location to refuel. Former President Ronald Reagan briefly stopped by the base in 1983 en route to Japan and Korea, where he praised the 'beauty of this wonderful land' and shared his 'admiration' of the state. Reagan visited Alaska the following year to meet with Pope John Paul II in the city of Fairbanks. In 1971, former President Richard Nixon met with Japanese Emperor Hirohito in Anchorage, hailing him 'the first reigning monarch in Japan's long history to step on foreign soil.' The meeting was extremely brief, with the monarch touching down at 10 p.m. local time and departing for his final destination of Europe by 11.40 p.m., according to the Richard Nixon Foundation. Former President Barack Obama also dropped by Anchorage in 2015 on a three-day trip to highlight the impacts of climate change in the region. Anchorage's military base was crucial to countering the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. Throughout its long history, the base hosted large numbers of aircraft and oversaw operations of a variety of early warning radar sites that were aimed at detecting Soviet military activity and any possible nuclear launches. It earned the motto 'Top Cover for North America' at this time, according to the base website. As preparations for the Anchorage summit continue, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov stated that the meeting will be a one-on-one between Trump and Putin, with translators present, and that 'sensitive matters' will be discussed. Both leaders will take part in a news conference once the summit is concluded, he added, as well as wider talks with their delegations and a working breakfast. Trump warned that Russia would face 'very severe consequences' if Putin does not agree to a ceasefire but hinted that a follow-up meeting could be swiftly arranged if Friday's summit proves a success.
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Sobbing couple blame ChatGPT for missing their flight to Puerto Rico after they asked it about visa requirements… and arrived with the wrong paperwork
A young influencer couple said they were barred from boarding their flight to Puerto Rico after ChatGPT gave them the wrong visa information to enter the Caribbean Island. In a video shared by the Spanish tourists on social media, TikToker Mery Caldass appears in tears as she walks through the airport after not being allowed to travel. As partner Alejandro Cid comforts her, Caldass tells the camera: 'Look, I always do a lot of research, but I asked ChatGPT and they said no,' referring to whether they needed a visa to enter the country. 'I don't trust that son of a b***h anymore', she adds. But in between her tears, the influencer jokes that the AI tool gave them the wrong information as an act of revenge after she insulted it. 'I don't trust that one anymore because sometimes I insult him, I call him a b*****d, you're useless, but inform me his revenge'. The video has racked up 6.1 million views on TikTok and several users have poked fun at the couple for asking ChatGPT for information instead of checking official travel advice. 'Well, natural selection I guess. If you are going to take a transoceanic trip and you put all your advice in ChatGPT, little has happened to you,' one user commented. 'But who trusts ChatGPT for those types of situations?,' another said. Others came to ChatGPT's defence, claiming the AI tool's answer was not incorrect and that instead the couple had asked it the wrong question about the necessary documents to enter Puerto Rico. Spanish tourists do not need a visa to enter the Caribbean island, however holidaymakers must process an Electronic Travel Authorization (ESTA) online. The couple's ordeal with ChatGPT comes a day after a man was left fighting for his sanity after replacing table salt with a chemical more commonly used to clean swimming pools after following AI advice. The 60-year-old American spent three weeks in hospital suffering from hallucinations, paranoia and severe anxiety after taking dietary tips from ChatGPT. Doctors revealed in a US medical journal that the man had developed bromism - a condition virtually wiped out since the 20th century - after he embarked on a 'personal experiment' to cut salt from his diet. Instead of using everyday sodium chloride, the man swapped it for sodium bromide, a toxic compound once sold in sedative pills but now mostly found in pool-cleaning products. Symptoms of bromism include psychosis, delusions, skin eruptions and nausea - and in the 19th century it was linked to up to eight per cent of psychiatric hospital admissions. The bizarre case took a disturbing turn when the man turned up at an emergency department insisting his neighbour was trying to poison him. He had no previous history of mental illness. Intrigued and alarmed, doctors tested ChatGPT themselves. The bot, they said, still recommended sodium bromide as a salt alternative, with no mention of any health risk.
