Newark Airport air traffic control suffers another outage overnight, FAA confirms

Newark Liberty International Airport suffered another brief air traffic control outage today, the Federal Aviation Administration confirms, capping another week full of problems for travelers heading to and from New Jersey. 

“There was a telecommunications outage that impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport airspace.  The outage occurred around 3:55 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and lasted approximately 90 seconds,” the FAA said in a statement to CBS News New York.   

Widespread delays continue at Newark Airport

There were 74 canceled flights and nearly 250 delays, averaging about four hours, at Newark as of 11:30 a.m. Friday. 

The air traffic outage happened less than 24 hours after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced the Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the U.S. air traffic control system and replace outdated equipment, which has been blamed for hundreds of delays at Newark over the last two weeks.   

When the widespread delays started last week, crews at the Philadelphia air traffic control facility lost radar and communication with planes in Newark’s airspace for at least 30 seconds. The union representing air traffic controllers said multiple controllers took trauma leave after the equipment failure.

Duffy called that incident a frightening example of the need for improvements. He said it lasted between 30-90 seconds. 

We asked the FAA if the latest outage also caused a complete loss of communication with pilots and are waiting to hear back. 

Duffy hopes air traffic control shortage ends this summer

Duffy also appeared Friday on “CBS Mornings” and said the lines that went down last week were now working.

“The main line that feeds information into Newark, that went down, the secondary line didn’t stand up. And so both lines are now working. We have a little bit of issues with our air traffic controllers. Some of them have stepped out of the tower. They were stressed. So we’re training new individuals in the Philly TRACON, which services Newark and we’re building a whole, new fiber-driven system down in Philly that does serve the Newark Airport. So, listen, we’re in a situation where it’s going to take us a little bit of time. I hope by this summer, we’re gonna be fully functioning,” Duffy said. 

United Airlines has been limiting flights to and from Newark amid the problems. 

“It’s now clear — and the FAA tells us — that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead,” United CEO Scott Kirby said. “It’s disappointing to make further cuts to an already reduced schedule at Newark, but since there is no way to resolve the near-term structural FAA staffing issues, we feel like there is no other choice in order to protect our customers.”  

The FAA and transportation officials have insisted Newark airspace remains safe since traffic is being slowed into and out of the airport, hence the delays.