FAA Cuts Flights at Newark Airport to Reduce Delays and Congestion

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday it will significantly reduce the number of flights at Newark Liberty International Airport to alleviate persistent delays and congestion. The decision comes after weeks of disruptions caused by staffing shortages, equipment failures, and ongoing runway construction that have plagued one of the nation’s busiest airports.

Under the interim order issued Tuesday, the FAA will cap hourly arrivals and departures at 28 each until runway construction is completed, with a potential increase to 34 flights per hour after construction ends. The new limits take effect May 20, according to an official FAA statement.

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Decision Follows Weeks of Chaos

The flight reductions follow more than two weeks of serious delays and cancellations at Newark, prompted by several system failures and staffing issues. The problems began on April 28, when controllers at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which oversees flights in and out of Newark, experienced a complete radar and communications failure lasting approximately 90 seconds.

“Our goal is to relieve the substantial inconvenience to the traveling public from excessive flight delays due to construction, staffing challenges, and recent equipment issues, which magnify as they spread through the National Airspace System,” said Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau in a statement.

The April 28 incident was followed by similar outages on May 9 and May 11, leading several air traffic controllers to take extended trauma leave, further exacerbating the already understaffed facility. The events have highlighted significant vulnerabilities in the aging air traffic control system, according to Men’s Journal.

Technical Issues and Staffing Shortages Compound Problems

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy acknowledged that the system used by controllers at Newark is outdated and in need of replacement. “We have this system across the United States feeding radar data like this, where we have a line in a redundant line, and we haven’t had a failure like this degree,” FAA Deputy Chief Operating Officer Franklin McIntosh testified at a Senate hearing last week.

The technical issues have been compounded by staffing shortages at the Philadelphia TRACON facility. According to the FAA, 38 certified professional controllers are needed to operate the facility that handles Newark traffic, yet only 24 of those positions—63%—are currently filled.

After the initial outage in April, five to seven controllers took 45-day trauma leave, leaving the facility severely understaffed. United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby criticized the situation, stating that the control facility responsible for Newark traffic has been “chronically understaffed for years.”

Impact on Airlines and Travelers

The FAA held meetings with major airlines from May 14-16 to discuss the flight reductions. Carriers including United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Allegiant Air worked with the FAA to find a balance between reducing operations and meeting individual airline needs.

United Airlines, which operates a hub at Newark, will be most significantly affected by the reductions. The airline had already announced it would cut 35 daily round trips at the airport in response to the ongoing issues.

Aviation analyst Kyle Bailey expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of the reductions, telling FOX 5 NY: “Let’s face it, three to seven flights per hour, reducing that by three to seven flights per hour isn’t going to avoid those mass backups and chaos in the terminals that we saw with all those passengers stranded for five or six hours.”

Timeline for Improvements

According to the FAA, the limits on flight operations will remain at 28 arrivals and departures per hour until construction of Runway 4-Left/22-Right is complete. Daily construction is scheduled to end on June 15, 2025, though work will continue on Saturdays until the end of the year.

After the construction period, the FAA plans to increase limits to 34 arrivals and departures per hour until October 25, 2025. This would still be below the pre-crisis level of 38 or 39 hourly flights that typically operated at Newark.

The Department of Transportation is also working on longer-term solutions, including building a new direct telecommunications line from Newark to the Philadelphia TRACON, which Transportation Secretary Duffy expects to be completed by the end of summer. Additionally, the administration has announced plans to build a “brand new air traffic control system” by 2029.

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