Overview

• Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which manages Newark Liberty International Airport flights, experienced its fourth communications outage since late April, lasting two seconds on May 19.
• The FAA has launched an investigation into the repeated outages and convened an emergency task force with L3Harris and Verizon to address the technical failures.
• Newark's air traffic control system is severely understaffed, with only 22 certified controllers out of the FAA's target of 38, contributing to rolling flight delays and cancellations.
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has proposed a $12.5 billion modernization plan to overhaul the outdated air traffic control infrastructure, which still relies on 1980s-era technology.
• The FAA is temporarily capping Newark’s hourly arrivals to 28 flights due to ongoing runway construction and operational strain, with a review of arrival rates expected by late May.