The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) looks likely to cut flights to and from Newark Liberty International Airport, following a series of issues that have affected the running of the airport over recent weeks, including a 90-second radar outage this morning (12th May).
The FAA said in a statement:
“The airport clearly is unable to handle the current level of scheduled operations. The FAA believes that this proposal would reduce overscheduling, flight delays, and cancellations to an acceptable level.”
This follows another incident where the airport came close to a ‘Zero ATC Event’, where an airport does not have any Air Traffic Controllers on shift, until a controller agreed to cover the evening shift.
On top of this, Newark Liberty International Airport has seen an average of 34 arrivals being cancelled on a daily basis.
Staffing Issues Across the Field, Not Just at Newark
In February 2025, the Federal Aviation Authority cut around 400 employees, as part of wider federal employee reductions implemented by the Trump Administration.
Whilst the cuts were aimed at probationary staff, as well as staff employed for less than a year, there were worries, expressed by unions, that the cuts would impact wider airline safety.
At the time, David Spero, President of the Aviation Specialist Association, said in a statement,
“All of these people are part of the safety net. The more of them that are not there, the more difficult it becomes to do the actual safety oversight.”
Aside from Air Traffic Control, the cuts have a direct influence on the infrastructure of Newark, with the ongoing upgrading of the runway being slowed down due to less staff.
In a poll taken when the cuts were first announced, around 64% of respondents stated that they felt that air travel was either ‘very safe’ or ‘somewhat safe’, down from 71% the year before.
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