Newark Airport Chaos: Here’s What to Know

Some air traffic controllers are taking time to delay and cancel the disruption of operations at Newark Liberty International Airport following the recent power outage.

United Airlines said on the weekend that it would cut 35 flights from airports not far from New York City, which was said at United Airlines’ listings over the weekend.

Each official, the inbound flight delay averaged 2 hours and 41 minutes.

Here is what you know about the situation:

How does the delay begin?

On April 28, air traffic controllers briefly lost communication with aircraft at Newark Airport for about 90 seconds.

The controllers at the Philadelphia Control Center monitor air traffic in and out of the airport, losing radar and communications with flights. According to the New York Times, the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers said: “They can’t “see, listen or talk to them.”

Power outages and communication failures have resulted in hundreds of flights being delayed or cancelled. According to the Times, three dozen flights were transferred that day.

The situation worsened when air traffic controllers were absent from the Federal Employee Compensation Act, which allows federal workers who were injured or traumatized at work to take leave.

Airline response

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby highlighted tensions between his company and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a letter to clients Friday to fix the agency’s efforts “permanently and structurally”. These challenges boiled last week, he said.

“In more than once in the past few days, FAA air traffic controllers have failed to rely on to manage aircraft in and out of Newark Airport – resulting in dozens of shifted flights, hundreds of delayed and cancelled flights and all bad flights and thousands of all customers with disrupted travel plans.”

Kirby said the issues became more complicated when the airport’s air traffic controllers were absent. He warned customers that Newark Airport will not have enough staff to handle the upcoming number of planes in the coming weeks and months.

The airline wants to minimize the impact of Newark airport on the personnel and technical issues encountered by customers as it announced that the airline will reduce flights to the region by 35, the co-director said.

He said the company has urged the government for years to restrict flights to specific airports that can be “realistically handled”. Kirby shared that he recently spoke with Transport Secretary Sean Duffy and said he was pleased with the Trump administration’s proposal to modernize the FAA.

Trump administration action

Since taking office earlier this year, the Trump administration has been trying to fix the FAA’s outdated air traffic control system and address controller shortages.

Duffy previously announced the effort and unveiled a plan that would recruit new controllers while motivating existing controllers not to leave the position, despite how long it has been in the position before.

The FAA said in a statement Monday it is working to ensure current telecommunications equipment is “more reliable in the New York area.”

“Frequent equipment and telecommunications disruptions can put pressure on controllers,” the agency said, noting that some people working in Newark took time to “recover from the pressure of several recent power outages.”

Although it cannot replace controllers who take quick leave, it continues to train controllers that will one day be assigned to Newark area, FAA officials said.

Duffy said earlier this week that he and President Trump would “fundamentally change” air traffic control by creating a “new system to envy the world.” He outlined some priorities in an interview with Fox News on Monday and suggested more details will appear on Thursday.

Outdated technical deterioration problem

The FAA acknowledges that its technical systems are outdated and require updates.

According to a March report by Forbes, 92% of the FAA budget is used to maintain outdated technology, including floppy disks.

A report from the Government Accountability Office found from 2024 that the FAA “urgent” needs to modernize its “aging system” and pointed out that many platforms that manage air traffic are unsustainable. The FAA then determined that 51 of its 138 systems were unmaintainable due to technology or product out of date.

“The agency is slow to modernize the most critical and at risk systems,” the report said, noting that in 6 to 13 years, some modernization efforts will not be completed.

Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, released a budget settlement proposal that would allocate $15 billion to modernize the FAA’s air traffic control technology.

Duffy said he intends to “enhance” staffing in the shortage and direct funding to update the FAA’s system.

He said in an interview on Monday that the main communication lines and backups in the Newark region were fixed, but the disruption showed that the country already had a “fragile system.”

This story was first released at 10:40 am and updated at 11:30 am

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