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4mo ago

FAA Implements Flight Caps at Newark Airport as Safety Measures Advance

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy oversees emergency upgrades and staffing initiatives while airlines adjust operations to align with new limits.

FILE - Rescue and salvage crews pull up a part of a Army Black Hawk helicopter that collided midair with an American Airlines jet, at a wreckage site in the Potomac River from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Feb. 6, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE - Salvage crews work on recovering wreckage near the site in the Potomac River of a mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Air traffic control tower at Fayetteville Regional Airport Thursday Dec. 11, 2014.

Overview

  • Newark Liberty International Airport's flight capacity is temporarily capped at 24–28 flights per hour due to air traffic control equipment failures and staffing shortages.
  • Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has convened an emergency task force and announced upgrades to outdated radar systems, including fiber-optic installations and improvements to the STARS system.
  • Major airlines, including United, American, and JetBlue, have reduced schedules and issued waivers to accommodate FAA-imposed limits and minimize passenger disruptions.
  • The FAA is testing newly installed fiber-optic lines at Newark and other New York-area airports, with plans to bring them online by the end of May.
  • Congressional hearings are scrutinizing systemic vulnerabilities in air traffic control, while Secretary Duffy proposes raising the controller retirement age and offering bonuses to address workforce shortages.