After another terrifying power outage at New Jersey’s Newark Airport, airlines and federal officials are reportedly planning to slash flights at the busy travel hub.
Air traffic controllers’ radar screens went dark for 90 seconds early Friday morning in a close call that nearly became a midair disaster.
The momentary power outage hit at 3:55am ET, when air traffic was luckily very light. However, it was the second blackout in two weeks at Newark, which is relying on radar data coming from centers in Philadelphia due to staffing shortages.
Now, airline executives and US transportation officials are reportedly planning to meet to work on a plan that will shift air traffic away from the beleaguered airport.
According to Bloomberg, carriers would voluntarily cut the number of flights heading to Newark for a limited period, potentially affecting millions of travelers.
According to Flightaware, there were 140 cancellations and 401 flight delays reported after the radar outage at Newark as of 4pm ET Friday.
The previous outage struck the airport’s air traffic control tower on April 28, causing computer screens to go dark for 60 to 90 seconds and leading to more chaos and delays.
Newark is the second-busiest airport in the New York-New Jersey area, behind only JFK Airport, catering to nearly 49 million travelers in 2024.
Radar screens at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport went dark early Friday morning at 3:55am ET. It was the second momentary blackout in 2 weeks at the airport
Days after the April 28 incident, an air traffic controller at Newark Airport warned flyers to stay away from the New Jersey airport.
The unnamed source told NBC’s Tom Costello: ‘It’s not a safe situation for the flying public!’
‘Don’t fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs,’ the air traffic controller added.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a statement on X Friday, revealing the blackout was caused by a ‘telecommunications outage’ at Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Area C.
This control center, located 90 miles away at the Philadelphia International Airport, manages air traffic for Newark Airport and smaller airports nearby.
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said after the latest radar blackout that “Enough is enough.”
“The connection between New York air space and the Philadelphia air traffic control center must be fixed now. The back up system that is not working must be fixed. Now,” New York’s senior senator added, according to a statement shared with reporters on X.
“The skies over New York City are some of the busiest in the world. This cannot happen again,” Schumer said.
Before Friday’s blackout, the FAA said it would install a temporary backup system at the Philadelphia radar facility while they sped up work on upgrading their communications infrastructure at the site.
According to Bloomberg, the discussions for slashing service out of Newark Airport are scheduled to begin in the next few weeks.
Days after the April 28 incident, an air traffic controller at Newark Airport warned flyers to stay away from the New Jersey airport
During the blackout Friday, air traffic controllers were reportedly overheard telling a FedEx cargo plane their radars screens were offline.
They allegedly told the plane’s pilots to put pressure on their company to help get the problems fixed.
A private jet was also reportedly told to stay above 3,000 feet because the air traffic controllers couldn’t guarantee that they’d be able to contact the plane during its descent for landing.
The radar blackout also happened just days after more than 20 percent of Newark’s tower controllers allegedly ‘walked off the job’ following the first power outage.
Officially, several of the air traffic controllers used their ‘trauma leave’ following the first radar blackout on April 28.
Under the Federal Employees Compensation Act, government workers who experience work-related injuries or illnesses, including psychological trauma or stress-related conditions, are able to take up to 45 days off at full pay.
Newark Airport has been dealing with staffing storages, causing the airport to rely on a Philadelphia radar center for some of their flight data
However, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby accused the absent federal workers of causing even more problems following the power outage, including the grounding of hundreds of flights.
‘Unfortunately, the technology issues were compounded as over 20% of the FAA controllers for EWR walked off the job,’ Kirby said in a May 2 statement.
‘Keep in mind, this particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, it’s now clear – and the FAA tells us – that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead,’ the CEO added.
New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer said on Friday that the New York-New Jersey region is short ‘about 40 air traffic controllers’ currently.
‘Right now it has about 22 and it should have somewhere in the 60s,’ Gottheimer explained.
‘Our air traffic controllers are the best in the world, but everything they need to do they’re unable to do when you’re so short-staffed,’ the congressman added during a news conference at Newark Airport.
On Thursday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a plan for sweeping upgrades to America’s air traffic control system.
However, Duffy admitted the Trump Administration is racing against time to prevent a major airline tragedy.
‘You’re starting to see cracks in the system,’ Duffy said during a press conference Thursday. ‘It’s our job to actually see over the horizon what the issues are and fix it before there is an incident that we will seriously regret.’
‘We are on it. We are going to fix it. We are going to build a brand new system for all of you and your families and the American people,’ the transportation secretary added.
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