Flying into or out of Newark Liberty International Airport has brought plenty of misery in the last week, with cancellations, delays stretching well past five hours and flight diversions that have stranded travelers far from their destinations.
The disruptions, which stretched into Monday with weather-related delays averaging four hours, have highlighted ongoing air traffic control staffing issues and equipment failures. In one case last week, controllers were temporarily unable to see or communicate with aircraft. More than 200 flights from and into Newark had been delayed as of Monday morning.
The troubles prompted United Airlines, Newark’s largest carrier, to cut nearly three dozen round-trip flights per day at the hub, starting last weekend.
Here’s what anyone heading to Newark Airport needs to know.
Air traffic control staffing is limiting capacity
Last summer, management of the airspace surrounding Newark shifted from New York to Philadelphia. This move, which involved relocating at least a dozen air traffic controllers, was meant to ease air traffic delays.
The Federal Aviation Administration has attributed last week’s flight disruptions at Newark to equipment failures and staffing issues at the Philadelphia air traffic control center as well as to construction on one of Newark’s runways.
Those staffing issues appear to be partly linked to an equipment failure that occurred last Monday, when controllers at the Philadelphia air traffic control center who are responsible for Newark “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control” and were “unable to see, hear or talk to them,” said Galen Munroe, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union that represents 20,000 air traffic controllers, engineers and other aviation workers.
This meant that for two hours that afternoon, no flights departed from or landed at Newark, said Aidan O’Donnell, the general manager of New Jersey airports at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
After the episode on Monday, an unspecified number of controllers took federally permitted leave, which covers traumatic events experienced on the job. This leave can last up to 45 days with approval from a doctor or counselor, said Michael McCormick, a former control tower operator who is a professor of air traffic management at Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University.
The other major New York City airports, Kennedy and LaGuardia, are managed by the New York control center.
One of Newark’s runways is closed
One of the airport’s three runways was shut down on April 15 for rehabilitation and repaving, with plans to reopen in mid-June.
This is a “very routine construction project,” said Mr. O’Donnell, and the airport had prepared for it extensively by taking steps such as scheduling fewer flights during this period.
Though the airport has two remaining open runways, the F.A.A. has underutilized one of them during the closure, Mr. O’Donnell said. “When we only have one runway that’s available, we are simultaneously landing and departing on the same runway, which is the least efficient way that traffic can be managed into and out of Newark,” he added.
The airport has more than 500 scheduled arrivals and 500 scheduled departures each day, the majority of which are operated by United.
The disruptions that started last week have continued
The Philadelphia control center’s telecommunications and equipment malfunctions last Monday caused hundreds of delays and cancellations and three dozen flight diversions that day, Mr. O’Donnell said.
The disruptions have continued through the week as air traffic controller shortages worsened in Philadelphia. Scott Kirby, United’s chief executive, said in a letter to customers on Friday announcing the flight cutbacks that more than 20 percent of the air traffic controllers responsible for Newark “walked off the job” this week. (Mr. Munroe, the union spokesman, disputed this characterization.)
Mr. Kirby added that staffing shortages at the Philadelphia control center have been a problem for years. The U.S. Department of Transportation has said it is short 3,000 controllers nationwide. These issues are “effectively limiting the capacity of Newark Airport,” Mr. O’Donnell said.
The problems may persist for weeks or months
The next few weeks could be challenging, Mr. O’Donnell warned.
Mass flight delays and cancellations can take days to resolve, as airlines navigate getting passengers, crew and aircraft back on track. United has issued flight waivers allowing travelers to rebook without incurring extra fees.
United cut 35 out of an average of 328 round-trip flights per day from its Newark schedule starting last weekend. The airport, one of the airline’s seven hubs, is a key gateway for flying to Europe, India and the Middle East.
Without enough controllers, “Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead,” Mr. Kirby said, adding that the flight reduction was a stopgap measure “since there is no way to resolve the near-term structural F.A.A. staffing issues.”
Mark Walker contributed reporting.
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