Another equipment outage impacts flights at Newark Liberty International Airport
A general view of gates and tarmac at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark
By Pete Muntean, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Another air traffic control equipment outage caused the FAA to implement a ground stop for Newark Liberty International Airport-bound flights Sunday morning.
The ground stop, which means flights heading to Newark could not take off, lasted about 45 minutes, according to FAA air traffic advisories.
The specific details of the outage were not immediately clear.
It comes after a 90-second-long radar and radio outage early Friday morning in the Newark approach control facility.
A similar incident, during a busy afternoon on April 28, caused five air traffic controllers in the facility to take trauma leave, which resulted in more than a thousand flights canceled.
Sunday, as of 9:45 a.m., only about 42 flights have been delayed at the airport, and about 78 canceled, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware.
CNN has reached out to the FAA for comment.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Sunday “it is” safe to fly out of Newark airport, adding that flights will be scaled back at the airport in the interim while the issue is fixed.
While noting that the system is “old” and outdated, Duffy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” he believes the “glitch” will be fixed soon.
He didn’t say exactly how long delays and cancellations will last, but said, “In the next several weeks, we’re going to have this reduced capacity at Newark. I’m convening a meeting of all the airlines that serve Newark, get them to agree on how they’re going to reduce the capacity. So you book, you fly.”
“We are building a new line that goes directly from Newark to the Philly Tracon, which controls the New York airspace,” Duffy said, adding he believes that will be complete by the end of the summer.
Duffy also said he would offer 20% up-front bonuses to air traffic controllers.
CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
