The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported another outage at Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday.
FAA representatives stated that a system managing flights at the Philadelphia Controlled Tower lost radio frequency for two seconds around 11:35 AM. Fortunately, there were no accidents, and planes remained “safely separated.” It’s worth noting that the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control area has been experiencing intermittent outages since a failure first arose on April 28.
The FAA mentioned that new upgrades at the facility were aimed at preventing further outages after a radar issue on May 11 led to delays at the airport. These delays averaged about 23 minutes.
Reports indicated that Newark Airport has faced considerable travel disruptions due to ongoing technical difficulties affecting radar screens. On Monday morning, the FAA announced that Newark was operating under a ground delay program, with departures averaging about 19 minutes. By around 7:30 AM, approximately 80 flights had already been canceled, and delays were widespread.
According to a report, the disruption stems from various factors, including radar outages, a shortage of air traffic controllers, and more. Since mid-April, Newark has seen an average of 34 arrival cancellations daily, with delays growing from an average of five to much longer throughout the day, typically between 85 and 137 minutes.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy noted that the Trump administration is reducing flights in and out of Newark to address ongoing issues in the upcoming weeks.
Moreover, a multi-billion dollar overhaul of the US air traffic control system has been proposed to tackle these challenges. This plan suggests building six new air traffic control centers and implementing technology upgrades at facilities nationwide over the next few years.
