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USA Today
28-05-2025
- USA Today
Could Newark's trouble affect your summer travels? Here's what to know
Could Newark's trouble affect your summer travels? Here's what to know | Cruising Altitude People, understandably, keep asking me if they need to worry about flying to, from or through Newark Liberty International Airport this summer. The airport has been in the news for disruptions for a month now, and travelers are worried about what those high-profile headaches mean for their trips. If you, too, are wondering what to do this summer if you're planning a trip that involves the East Coast, here's what you need to know. The good news is, you probably don't need to be as concerned as you may think. Problems at Newark So, how did we get here? Newark has had a month of delays and cancellations because of a number of overlapping issues. 'The most acute problem right now is the runway construction that's going on there,' Brett Snyder, author of the blog Cranky Flier and owner of the travel agency Cranky Concierge, told me. Newark is down one runway, which limits the airport's flexibility. On top of that, a series of radar and radio outages prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to further reduce the number of flight operations at the airport, partly because a handful of controllers took trauma leave after briefly losing contact with planes in April. Those flight reductions are meant to keep passengers safe. The FAA wants to ensure that controllers have the bandwidth and tech capabilities to handle the amount of traffic they're responsible for. 'The only way to ensure safety is to bring the volume down so we're not at that tipping point,' Sheldon Jacobson, professor of computer science at the University of Illinois' Grainger College of Engineering, previously told me. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy proposed sweeping technology upgrades for the FAA to address the agency's aging infrastructure, but those proposals haven't yet been funded by Congress, and they'll take years to implement even once the money is secured. 'It's absurd that it's been so difficult to get a modernized system that they've been talking about for more than 25 years,' Snyder said. In the meantime, the agency will keep chugging along on old infrastructure. Is Newark still a safe airport? Experts agree that despite the issues and aging technology, Newark remains a safe hub for travel. 'I don't think I would be overly concerned on the safety issues, but I would have real concerns about the on-time issue,' Snyder said. Last week's Cruising Altitude: Why an airline pilot's training is 'similar to a specialist surgeon' Are more disruptions in the Northeast likely? Another cause for optimism is that airlines are rearranging their schedules ahead of the summer crush. The FAA announced new caps on operations at Newark, and United Airlines, which is the largest carrier at the airport, significantly cut back its schedule already. That means that there's a plan in place to try to keep disruptions to a minimum this summer, but it doesn't mean it's guaranteed smooth sailing. Snyder said that in some ways, the flight reduction at Newark could make flying in the Northeast a little easier for everyone this summer. 'It could actually benefit the rest of the system in the Northeast, because there are fewer aircraft trying to use that airspace,' he said. 'You will have fewer airplanes that they need to try and sequence. That may be a stretch, but it's possible.' Jacobson warned, however, that as equipment across the FAA's air traffic control organization ages, disruptions like those happening at Newark could become more frequent at other facilities as well. 'This could have happened anywhere. It happened to happen at Newark,' he said. 'The question is what's so special there? The chances are others are going to start to experience other breakdowns.' How to avoid problems on your own trip While travelers may be thinking more about the possibilities for disruption to their flight plans this summer, given the news cycle, experts say the situation is less extraordinary than it seems. 'If you look at travel delays and travel cancelations, the primary reason continues to be due to weather,' Jacobson said. 'We cannot control the weather. When a storm system comes through the New York City area, you're going to end up with delays.' Snyder agreed that weather remains a major concern for summer travel, and the usual advice for dealing with that applies. 'It's no different than any other summer. If you can fly nonstop, fly nonstop, it makes your life easier. If you have a connection in a place that is potentially likely to be impacted by weather or whatever it may be, just give yourself a buffer on your connection time, and just be patient,' he said. Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This new Phoenix flight was just named the sexiest. Here's why
A new flight from Phoenix has won the aviation equivalent of People's Sexiest Man Alive. Cranky Flier, a consumer air travel blog, crowned Air France's flight between Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport the sexiest new long-haul airline route in its 2025 Cranky Network Awards. The awards honor the best in airline network planning. "As Arizona's largest economic engine, Phoenix Sky Harbor plays a key role in driving economic growth, and the Paris-Phoenix route strengthens our international presence," Phoenix Aviation Director Chad Makovsky said in a statement. "This important partnership will continue bringing more visitors and business opportunities to our region." Air France debuted the Phoenix-Paris flights in May 2024, drawing 7,249 passengers last year, data from Sky Harbor showed. Flights run three days a week, but will be expanded in May to five days a week and fly on a larger, 324-seat aircraft, in time for the summer travel season and the one-year anniversary of the route's launch. What set the Phoenix-Paris route apart was how Phoenix and Paris are desirable, world-class destinations that are on many travelers' bucket lists, Cranky Flier's president and self-described "Chief Airline Dork" Brett Snyder told The Arizona Republic. He cited Phoenix's Sonoran Desert location and proximity to Sedona, the Grand Canyon and "other natural beauty that can't be seen anywhere else in the world." Paris speaks for itself because "everyone wants to see Paris at least once in their lives" for its culture, city sights and museums, Snyder said. "But beyond that, this opens up so many other destinations with a single stop from Phoenix that can't easily be served today," he said. "The only other long-haul flights to Europe from Phoenix are on American and British Airways to London, and Heathrow is very crowded, so it can't serve many of the places that Air France now connects through Paris." Four destinations Snyder said Arizonans can connect to via the Air France route to Paris include Bordeaux, a region of France famous for its wine; Tangier, a port city in Morocco; Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar; and Réunion, a French island in the Indian Ocean. Flights had to meet these criteria to be considered for the sexiest long-haul route: The route was announced during the 2024 calendar year. The route is at least 3,000 miles long. (The distance between Sky Harbor and Paris is about 5,500 miles.) The route must touch the Americas north of the equator on at least one end, which is the geography for the awards in general. After that, it's based on the opinions of Snyder and the awards' co-presenter, Courtney Miller, founder and managing director of the aviation data company Visual Approach Analytics. Looking for the best things to do in Arizona? Sign up for our newsletter. After Snyder and Miller narrowed the field and debated each route, they made a shortlist of five routes. While Phoenix-Paris emerged the victor, these other flights were in the running: United Airlines' route from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey to Madeira, a Portuguese island known for its namesake wine. Snyder said Madeira is not a common destination from the U.S. Air Canada's route from Vancouver to Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Delta Air Lines' route from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport to Catania, on the east coast of Sicily. The Mediterranean island experienced surging interest from travelers after it was featured as the setting for the second season of the HBO series "The White Lotus." Alaska Airlines' route from Seattle Tacoma International Airport to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. Snyder said that while other airlines fly nonstop from Seattle to Tokyo, this route stands out for being Alaska's first long-haul route from Seattle, "which is sexy in its own right." Is it safe to go to Mexico right now? What spring breakers need to know Michael Salerno is an award-winning journalist who's covered travel and tourism since 2014. His work as The Arizona Republic's consumer travel reporter aims to help readers navigate the stresses of traveling and get the best value for their money on their vacations. He can be reached at Subscribe to today. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: This Phoenix flight was named the sexiest. Here's why
