Newark Liberty International Airport’s Terrible May Continues

It’s springtime in New York, but it’s still winter for many travelers flying out of the city’s second-busiest airport, Newark Liberty International (EWR).

Monday brought yet another day of above-average flight disruptions at Newark. According to FlightAware, 8% of all outbound flights—about 40 departures—were canceled, and another 19%, or roughly 100 flights, were delayed. It wasn’t much better for inbound flights, with 30% of arrivals delayed and 8% canceled.

Disruptions are now starting to pile up on Tuesday morning, with another 40 departures canceled as of 8:30 a.m. EST.

The issues stem from communication outages at air traffic control (ATC) facilities near Newark, including a 90-second radar outage on Friday at ATC facilities near Philadelphia. That, combined with a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers, has created major headaches for travelers.

A software update over the weekend reportedly prevented another outage, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who addressed the situation during a press conference on Monday. Duffy and his team have also put a flight cap in place at Newark, aimed at stabilizing operations and limiting traffic to a level the airport can realistically handle.

“We want to have a number of flights that, if you book your flight, you know it’s going to fly, right?” Duffy said. “So you don’t get to the airport, wait four hours, and then get delayed.”

United Airlines, which operates more than 70% of flights at Newark, has borne the brunt of the recent disruptions.

On Monday, United CEO Scott Kirby sent a message to flyers in the Newark area, addressing the ongoing issues and reassuring them that it remains safe to travel in and out of the airport despite the communication failures.

“The truth is that all the flights in and out of EWR are absolutely safe. When there are FAA issues, such as technology outages or staffing shortages, the FAA requires all airlines to fly fewer aircraft to maintain the highest levels of safety. In short, neither the FAA nor United will ever compromise on safety,” Kirby wrote.

He also pointed to a recently announced Department of Transportation plan that aims to modernize and upgrade the country’s air traffic infrastructure and address ATC staffing shortages.

“Our hardworking air traffic controllers clearly need more staff and better technology, and the good news is that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a plan to make that happen,” he said.