Major delays at Newark Airport roll into fifth day as FAA cites air traffic control staffing issues
Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark
By Pete Muntean, CNN
(CNN) — Air traffic control staffing issues are cascading into major delays for passengers flying in and out of the busy Newark airport outside of New York City for an unprecedented fifth day in a row.
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration once again imposed delays for flights bound for Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, citing staffing. The FAA’s Ground Delay Program details delays averaging more than two hours for flights bound to Newark.
The FAA has not commented officially on the nature of the staffing problems, though staffing has been listed by the FAA as the cause of delays since Monday equipment outages led to United Airlines canceling more than 100 flights and diverting 37 others. United flight 1909 had to turn around over Nebraska, halfway into its trip to Newark, and return to San Francisco.
“We have a team up there right now. They’re doing an ongoing investigation into the technology, the interruption itself,” FAA Acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau said during a Thursday news conference announcing the Trump administration’s latest incentives to hire new air traffic controllers.
“At the end of the day, we need to make sure the controllers have the proper equipment and that they’re obviously appropriately staffed,” Rocheleau said.
The new staffing-caused delays are just the latest development in problems plaguing the Newark airport as a busy summer travel season is fast approaching. Last July, the FAA relocated a key control facility responsible for Newark air traffic from Long Island to Philadelphia in hopes of enticing new hires to join the hard-to-staff facility.
A CNN analysis of FAA airspace advisories shows at least 14 straight days of FAA imposed delays for flights to or from Newark. The airport is also in the middle of a runway rehabilitation project that is regularly closing one of its main runways until mid-June.
FlightAware data showed roughly one in five Newark flights to or from Newark were canceled and more than 40% of all departures and arrivals were delayed on Thursday.
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