By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it is taking immediate steps to address ongoing woes that have disrupted hundreds of flights at Newark Liberty International Airport since April 28.
The FAA said it is increasing air traffic controller staffing and adding three new, high-bandwidth telecommunications connections and deploying a temporary backup system to the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control that handles Newark traffic that will provide redundancy during the switch to a more reliable fiber-optic network.
The FAA said Wednesday it has capped the maximum arrival rate at Newark at 28 per hour for the “foreseeable future” and may temporarily lower it further to ensure safety based on staffing, weather or equipment issues.
The FAA last year relocated control of the Newark airspace to Philadelphia to address staffing and congested New York City area traffic.
The airport has been hit by runway construction, FAA equipment outages and air traffic control staffing shortages that prompted urgent calls from lawmakers for investigations and new funding for Newark, the busy airport just outside New York.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said this week controllers overseeing planes at Newark lost contact with aircraft on April 28 for 30 seconds, an incident that raised serious alarm.
On Friday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said the Chicago-based carrier that operates the most flights from Newark was cutting another 35 daily flights — or 10% of its schedule — after he said 20% of the FAA controllers for Newark had walked off the job.
On Monday, the controllers’ union said the workers did not walk off the job but took leave under a law providing for absences for injuries or on-the-job trauma.
United said it has historically flown 440 flights daily out of Newark, but after cutting flights earlier this spring due to the runway construction and the latest cuts, it is now down to 293.
Reuters first reported last week that major U.S. airlines have asked the FAA to extend cuts to minimum flight requirements at congested New York City-area airports through October 2027, citing severe air traffic controller staffing shortages.
(Reporting by David Shepardson, Editing by Franklin Paul)
Comments