The FAA on Wednesday announced it is taking “immediate steps” to alleviate severe disruptions at Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR).
After a tumultuous weekend that saw 951 delays and 226 cancellations, per data from FlightAware, the airport on Monday entered its second week of operational challenges. On Tuesday alone it recorded another 374 delays and 150 cancellations. Flight activity at the airport over the past seven days is down 23 percent compared to the same week last year.
Disruptions softened Wednesday morning. But according to the FAA’s operations plan, the agency expects to activate a ground stop at Newark in the afternoon. Driving the chaos are air traffic controller (ATC) staffing shortages, equipment issues, and ongoing construction—scheduled to last until mid-June—on one of Newark’s three runways used for commercial traffic, the FAA said.
In response, the regulator is implementing an action plan that includes critical “technological and logistical” upgrades at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility’s Area C, which manages the airspace in Newark. It will also increase staffing. On April 28, controllers at the site “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them,” the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) said Monday.
Speaking with CNN, an anonymous controller described the equipment issues as the “most dangerous situation you could have” and said the energy in the control tower was “hectic.”
Per a U.S. Department of Transportation media advisory, Secretary Sean Duffy is scheduled to reveal the agency’s “all-new, state-of-the-art air traffic control infrastructure plan” on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. EDT. The announcement comes about four months after a fatal collision between a U.S. Army helicopter and commercial passenger jet brought public scrutiny on the nation’s aviation system.
Trouble at TRACON
The Philadelphia TRACON lies at the heart of Newark’s malaise.
Controllers at the facility took over management of Newark’s airspace from the New York TRACON (N90) in July, a move the FAA said was intended to address N90 staffing shortages. The agency said the site has 22 certified professional controllers (CPCs) and another 21 controllers and supervisors in training. It added that it has a “healthy pipeline with training classes filled through July 2026.” On Monday, though, The Air Current reported that the FAA is searching for experienced ATC supervisors to address continued shortages.
The problem is not limited to Newark. Per NATCA, the FAA needs to hire more than 3,000 ATC personnel to meet nationwide staffing targets. The issue gained renewed attention on Friday, when United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby claimed that “over 20 percent of the FAA controllers for EWR walked off the job.”
NATCA on Monday clarified that controllers did not “walk off,” which the FAA later confirmed. Per CNN, three controllers, a supervisor, and a trainee took 45 days of leave under the Federal Employees Compensation Act to deal with the trauma of losing radio and communications for 60 to 90 seconds. During that stretch, personnel lost touch with a FedEx MD-11 and were unable to guide it into Newark.
“It was just by the grace of God that there wasn’t another plane in his way,” the anonymous controller told the outlet.
Radar data from Newark is fed to the Philadelphia TRACON through telecommunications wires from the FAA’s standard terminal automation replacement system (STARS) in New York. The controller told CNN this feed is not redundant and has gone down at least twice before.
“What we’re seeing here at the Philadelphia TRACON…that actually can be what’s going to happen across the country,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Friday.
Beyond increasing controller staffing, the FAA on Wednesday said it will create a new STARS hub in Philadelphia and make upgrades to improve the speed and reliability of communications, such as replacing copper telecommunications wiring with fiberoptic technology. A temporary backup system will be stood up in Philadelphia during the switch to fiberoptic.
Grander Plans
Beyond staffing, Newark’s disruptions stem from what Duffy on Friday described as an “incredibly old” ATC system. The transportation secretary has repeatedly touted a “state of the art” replacement, which could come online within three to four years and be backed by a $15 billion support package from Congress.
“We use floppy disks. We use copper wires,” Duffy said. “The system that we’re using is not effective to control the traffic that we have in the airspace today.”
Duffy, appointed by President Donald Trump in January, has frequently placed blame on the previous administration for the status quo. On Tuesday, he posted a link to a December 2024 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that urged the FAA to modernize ATC technology.
“A government watchdog warned [former President Joe] Biden & [Transportation Secretary Pete] Buttigieg about the failing air traffic control system,” Duffy wrote on X. “They knew the air traffic control system was strained AND STILL DID NOTHING!”
According to The Washington Post, the FAA under Trump paused the work of an expert panel reviewing its management of ATC systems. But it also raised starting salaries for ATC trainees and implemented cash bonuses to boost hiring and retention.
