If you’re flying in or out of Newark airport anytime soon, brace for turbulence—on the ground, not in the air.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced plans to scale back flights at Newark for "the next several weeks" as New Jersey's largest airport grapples with a chaotic combination of radar outages, persistent delays and a critical shortage of air traffic controllers.
The FAA says the radar system guiding planes into Newark, based in Philadelphia, briefly went dark this past Friday morning. That glitch mirrored another on April 28. Then Sunday brought more trouble: two separate equipment outages triggered a ground stop at Newark and another in Atlanta.
Since mid-April, Newark has seen an average of 34 arrivals canceled each day, with delays getting worse as the day goes on. Evening delays stretch over two hours on average.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, Duffy said he’s meeting with airlines this week to coordinate a reduction in flights to ease delays. The cuts will likely hit hardest in the afternoon when international traffic peaks. Flight cuts will fluctuate day to day.
"We want to have a number of flights that if you book your flight, you know it's going to fly, right?" Duffy said on NBC's Meet the Press. "That is the priority. So you don't get to the airport, wait four hours, and then get delayed."
To tackle the root problem—a shortage of specialized air traffic controllers—Duffy is pushing for a five-year retirement age extension, a 20% stay-on bonus and a major overhaul of outdated systems. But with a 3,000-person shortfall, there’s no quick fix.
Still, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby says the skies are safe. "We have backups to backups to backups," he said Sunday. Safety may not be in question—but if you’re traveling through Newark, patience definitely will be.