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Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) has had a rough go of it lately. Between runway construction, a shortage of air traffic controllers, and tech glitches it has not been the airport to travel to, from, or through. The Federal Aviation Administration has taken note and issued an interim order today that reduces the number of arriving and departing flights.
The new directive limits the maximum hourly number of arrivals and departures to 28 each. The runway construction on Runway 4-Left/22-Right is expected to end on June 15th. If it sticks to schedule, the number will be increased to 34 departures and 34 arrivals hourly through October 25th.
Acting FAA Administrator, Chris Rocheleau, shared:
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.”
This is being done to alleviate some of the extreme delays that travelers are facing. I saw this firsthand on Easter when my flight was delayed more than 4.5 hours. If this does not remedy the situation, the FAA can impose even stricter restrictions. United has the most to lose here as it holds about 58% of the flying at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). As the carrier gears up for a busy summer, the timing could not be worse.
The FAA further issued an update that outlines some of the changes that its making to its infrastructure. This reads:
*Adding three new, high-bandwidth telecommunications connections between the New York-based STARS and the Philadelphia TRACON. This will provide more speed, reliability and redundancy.
*Replacing copper telecommunications connections with updated fiberoptic technology that also have greater bandwidth and speed.
*Deploying a temporary backup system to the Philadelphia TRACON that will provide redundancy during the switch to a more reliable fiberoptic network.
*Establishing a STARS hub at the Philadelphia TRACON so that the facility does not depend on a telecommunications feed from the New York STARS hub.
*Increasing controller staffing. Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which directs aircraft in and out of Newark, has 22 fully certified controllers, 5 fully certified supervisors, and 21 controllers and supervisors in training. Ten of those 21 controllers and supervisors are receiving on-the-job training. All 10 are certified on at least one position in Area C and three are certified on multiple positions. This means they can work those positions without supervision from an instructor. We have a healthy pipeline of controllers, with training classes filled through July 2026.”
Anthony’s Take: Something has to give at EWR and it seems like the FAA is stepping in to try to make things better. Hopefully, the runway construction goes smoothly and something can be done about the shortage of air traffic controllers. It’s going to be a long summer for United and those flying at the airport.
(Image Credits: gorodenkoff via iStock.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
