Newark Airport Hit by Yet Another Radio Outage, Adding to Growing Crisis
Newark Liberty International Airport experienced its fourth radio outage in less than a month on Monday, as equipment at the facility responsible for guiding aircraft in and out of the busy travel hub briefly failed again. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which handles Newark air traffic, experienced a radio outage for approximately two seconds around 11:35 a.m., according to Patch.com.
While the FAA stated that all aircraft remained safely separated and operations continued normally, the incident adds to a growing list of equipment malfunctions at the airport that have resulted in hundreds of delays, diversions, and cancellations over the past few weeks. The agency said it is investigating the latest outage.
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Pattern of System Failures
Monday’s incident follows a series of similar outages that have plagued Newark Airport since late April. On April 28, air traffic controllers in Philadelphia temporarily lost contact with planes under their guidance when radar and communication systems went down for approximately 60-90 seconds. That incident resulted in hundreds of delays, diversions, and cancellations.
Additional outages occurred on May 9, when the FAA reported a “telecommunications outage” that impacted communications and radar displays for about 90 seconds, and again on May 11, when another “telecommunications issue” briefly slowed aircraft operations at Newark. According to Fox Business, the agency also issued a ground delay at Newark on Monday from 2:07 p.m. to 11:59 p.m., citing staffing issues.
Aging Infrastructure to Blame
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has attributed the ongoing issues to severely outdated equipment and infrastructure. “What we use today is copper wires. We are one of the last institutions, last businesses, that actually use copper wires,” Duffy said in recent statements to the media, pointing out that much of the technology being used dates back to the 1970s and 1980s.
The recurring failures stem partly from the FAA’s decision last July to relocate Newark’s approach controllers from a facility on Long Island to the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility, about 85 miles away. According to CNN, this arrangement relies on a single data feed connecting the two facilities via outdated copper wiring rather than modern fiber-optic technology.
Airlines Express Frustration
United Airlines, which operates a major hub at Newark Airport, has been particularly vocal about the situation. CEO Scott Kirby recently stated, “Newark Airport is a crown jewel of the region and an international gateway for the United States – close to 50 million people flew through EWR last year – but the truth is there are more flights scheduled there than the FAA can handle.”
Kirby pointed out that while the FAA says the airport can only handle 77 flights per hour under ideal conditions, schedules often exceed 80 flights per hour between 3 and 8 p.m. daily. “In reality, only the FAA can actually fix Newark Airport,” he insisted in a recent statement.
Federal Response and Future Plans
The FAA has announced several measures to address the ongoing issues, including adding three new high-bandwidth telecommunications connections from New York to Philadelphia, replacing copper lines with fiber-optic technology, and deploying a backup system to the Philadelphia TRACON during the transition.
Additionally, Secretary Duffy has announced plans to build a “brand new air traffic control system” by 2029, with billions in proposed spending over the next three to four years. In the meantime, the FAA has reduced flight capacity at Newark Airport over the “next several weeks,” particularly during afternoon hours, to mitigate the impact of potential outages.
Passenger Impact
As of Monday afternoon, departures to Newark Airport were delayed an average of 23 minutes, according to the FAA. The chronic delays and cancellations have created significant frustration for travelers, with the situation showing little sign of immediate improvement.
While both Secretary Duffy and United CEO Kirby have emphasized that flights through Newark remain “absolutely safe,” they acknowledge that the current infrastructure issues must be urgently addressed to restore reliable service at one of the nation’s busiest international gateways.
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