FAA, DOT laying out plans to ensure safety at Newark International Airport
NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) — Newark International Airport experienced yet another day of cancellations and delays Monday, after experiencing another communications issue on Sunday.
Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that an FAA software update pushed out Friday night allowed backup systems to kick in Sunday when a main communications line went down.
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This prevented a full radar blackout, as we previously saw on April 28 and May 9.
This Sunday on 'Face the Nation,' United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the airline is taking extra measures, in addition to its 35 daily flights already cancelled. On Wednesday, airline CEOs – including Kirby – will meet with the DOT for what is being called a 'delay reduction meeting.'
'What we've also done is put bigger airplanes on the route,' said Kirby. 'So put a larger plane, have fewer flights, but with bigger planes to maintain the number of seats that w
Sec. Duffy said new fiber optic cable should be up and running to Newark's air traffic control by the end of the month, but still requires updated equipment to handle the faster speeds.
More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State
Duffy said bringing in additional air traffic controllers is also more challenging than it seems.
'It does take time to train up controllers from other areas,' said Duffy. 'So even if you have a 20-year experienced controller, they move to a new airspace, it takes them a long time to train up, so we don't have the ability to just snap our fingers and move controllers around.'
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