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The airport management tower is visible at the Newark Liberty International Airport, on May 6, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey.
Andres Kudacki | Ghetto images
Air traffic controllers have been in voltage for years, but 90-second damage to the equipment Last month, it set out for decades of staff shortages, deficiencies and patchwork solutions to those who run planes through some of the most diligent airspace in the world take their influence.
The interruption also caused hundreds of flight delays, interrupting the journey for thousands of people for days – again. Less than two weeks later, on Friday, there was another similar interruption in the same facility, although it was overnight when they were in the air in the air.
Issued by expensive delays, airline leaders have been uploaded for years for upgrades to fix the aging air traffic infrastructure and to end the shortage of staff.
With the executive directors of the largest present US airlines, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday revealed a plan To replace the dated radar and communication systems in US airspace, a major overhaul that airline estimates may require Congress to approve more than $ 30 billion in funding.
Duffy did not provide a price, but stated that the work would cost billions of dollars and added on Thursday that it would require these funds from the front.
“The system we have here is not worth saving,” Duffy said at the event. “It’s too old.”
Airlines, Airbus, GE aerospace spaceUnions of the unions and other members of the industry on Thursday applauded a $ 12.5 billion house proposal set aside to improve air traffic control and said another $ 18.5 billion in emergency funding was needed over the next three years to improve and improve staff.
Some Democrats have said they have been encouraged by Duffy’s new proposal, but criticized the Trump administration’s abbreviations of dozens of federal aviation officers earlier this year, which do not include air traffic controllers.
“If America wants to remain the gold standard in aviation safety, we need intelligent investments-not canceled investments and financing cuts,” said Senator Tammy Dukworth, D-H., In a statement on Thursday.
What is the problem in Newark?
On the afternoon afternoon on April 28, air traffic controllers at a Philadelphia facility, which are responsible for targeting planes to and from the New Jersey International Airport in New Jersey, facing dark radar screens and failed to talk to planes for more than a minute.
The interruption lasted about 30 seconds. The planes needed another 30 to 60 seconds to reappear radiation, according to FAA.
Pilots for major US airlines say they are specifically trained to deal with such interruptions.
But interruption even a few seconds “is the eternity of air traffic controllers,” said Jeff Gutseti, a retired air safety investigator for the US and FAA National Transport Safety Council.
The incident, which was not the first time the equipment interruptions hit the facility, was so shaky that some “took time to recover from stress from many recent interruptions,” FAA said.
More than 1500 Newark flights were delayed during the week after the interruption, according to FlightAware. United Airlineswho rules a hub from Newark, said on May 3, it was Cutting 35 fields per day from his schedule to ease the tension of his work and customers.
At the end of Friday, FAA said he was planning to meet with airlines on Wednesday for possible shortening in Newark to relieve tension there.
The Newark track is also closed for construction, adding to interruptions.
A similar interruption of the radar and communication happened before the dawn on Friday at the same facility that runs planes arriving and departing from the Newark airport.
New steps
On Wednesday, the FAA said it would increase the staff at the Philadelphia facility and work to fix communication lines that submit data to the controllers there for Newark flights. He said he plans to install a temporary archival system there to “provide excess during switching to a more reliable fibroptic network.”
The new upgrades cannot come soon enough.
“We have computers, and I don’t do you today, today in 2025, which are based on Windows 95 and floppy disks,” Nick Daniels, President of the National Air Traffic Controllers, said in an interview.
Last year, FAA said that the average age of its towers was 40 and that most radar systems were approaching 40 years. “Aging facilities add risk to the system, including the risk of service interruptions,” the message said.
The Duffy plan presented on Thursday to call for the replacement of 618 radars and the construction of six new air traffic control centers, as well as to install new optical, wireless and satellite systems to replace old communication systems.
People are waiting in line for a fun flight at Newark International Airport on May 5, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey.
Spencer fabric Ghetto images
The accident attracts an emergency
The incident on April 28 and previous interruptions did not cause accidents, but failures raised more concerns about the outdated system and chronic shortage of air traffic controllers, especially in the busy airspace around New York.
US air traffic controllers process about 45,000 flights a day as a whole, according to FAA.
The urgency to eliminate prolonged problems reached a new level after a helicopter of the Black Hawk Army collocated with American Airlines A regional aircraft on January 29, killing all 67 people on board the aircraft. It was most dummy Air accident in the United States since 2001
“You do not need a tragedy to solve this problem,” Jetblue Airways CEO Joanna Geragti said at the event of the Transport Division on Thursday in Washington, Columbia County “as the only airline that is headquartered and based in New York, we know that control of air traffic control and the challenges are far too well.
“Let’s do this,” she said.
Why is Newark such a problem?
Newark is already dealing with space limitations to get started.
It cultivated about 414,000 flights last year, 11% less than John F. Kennedy International Airport, Queens, New York, according to their operator, the port administration of New York and New Jersey. But Newark is about half the size of JFK.
Technological problems and staff deficits have been particularly difficult for Newark in recent days. Last year, the FAA moved the controllers who were dealing with Newark from a facility in Long Island, New York – where planes were also sequenced to and from Laguardia and JFK Airport to Queens – to a remote Philadelphia station. This move was intended to ease the congestion and tension of Long Island’s facility, but there are still problems.
An internal view at Newark airport as passengers face eight straight days of huge delays, United Airlines canceled routes and shortages of staff in Newark, New Jersey, USA, May 6, 202.
Mostafa Bassim | Anadola | Ghetto images
The shortage of air traffic staff were executive directors of airlines who eager to take advantage of strong search But they are limited and face high costs due to lack of controllers.
“Keep in mind that this particular air traffic control facility has been chronically not for years and without these controllers, it is now clear – and the FAA tells us – that Newark airport cannot cope with the number of aircraft that have to work there during the weeks and months,” the UK CEO told Customs.
Before April 26, four flights a day were canceled in Newark in April, but this increased to 39 a day until Monday, according to the Cirium Aviation Analysis Company. About 80% of the flights were scheduled in April before that date, but they dropped to 63%, “far below industry normal,” Cirium said.
Delaying it
US Secretary of Transport Sean Duffy spoke to the media outside the White House in Washington, Columbia County, USA, May 6, 2025.
Kent Nishimura Reuters
Duffy said the aircraft travels are safe. After a visit to the Filadelphia facility after the April 28 interruption, he said the FAA would slow down, if not stopped, arrive completely if there was a shortage of air traffic controllers.
The CEO of United, Kirby, told employees on Wednesday that flying to and from Newark was safe. He said the carrier pilots have thousands of hours of experience and training in procedures to “follow to restore communication if controllers lose radio contact to securely navigate the plane to their destination.”
Airlines have sought capacity restrictions to help congestion, and the last interruption is no exception.
“United has called the US government for * years * to use its authority to effectively limit the number of flights to what the airport can realistically cope,” Kirby said in a note to employees. “The past failure to make these changes have led to the circumstances that unite and most importantly – our customers are now confronted.”
In 2016, FAA relieved airport flight restrictions and Kirby said the FAA should return to previous rules.
“It’s been a long time to treat EWR like Crown jewelry that it is,” he told employees at the Wednesday note using the airport code. “We will continue to work closely with the FAA and (Department of Transport) to get EWR once and for all and deliver the first -class air traffic system to the country that deserves.”
Staff shortage
The United States has about 10,800 air traffic controllers, far from the full target of staff by 3000, according to the Union of Controllers, NATCA.
“In the last eight years, we have had 146,000 candidates and have hired 7,905 of them,” said Chris Wilbanx, Vice President for Mission Mission Support, which runs control and training control, said in an interview in March. “Less than 10% of the people applying for the job actually reach the Academy (Oklahoma for training) and then end up to get on the field.”
United Airlines Deon Byrne captain checks his phone when he arrives at Terminal C at Newark Liberty International Airport on May 6, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey.
Andres Kudacki | Ghetto images
In the previous fiscal year, the target of the FAA was to hire 1800 controllers.
“We will lose 35% of those in the Academy. We will lose another 20% after they enter the field, on the training for work. So we do not waste 1800 controllers,” Wilbanx said.
Tired work requires air traffic controllers to retire at the age of 56, and candidates at the Academy may be no older than 30. Many are forced to work six-day working weeks due to a shortage.
Duffy has recently moved to increase financial incentives, as a higher pay for air traffic controllers. The start is about $ 45,000, Daniels of the Union said, although the average salary for an American air traffic controller is $ 144,580 a year, according to the US Labor Department.