To fix Newark Airport delays, the FAA should take these steps, United Airlines CEO says

The CEO of United Airlines penned a letter to employees outlining what he thinks the Federal Aviation Administration needs to do to fix all the delays plaguing Newark Liberty International Airport that began more than a week ago. 

The delays began last Monday when crews in the Philadelphia air traffic control facility that lines up flights into and out of Newark lost radar and communications with the planes for at least 30 seconds. 

“I just got told that the approach lost all their radars. Three of the 4 radar screens went black, and they had no frequencies,” one person said in the tower at the time, according to a recording of the event. 

Air traffic has been slowed into and out of Newark Liberty Airport ever since. 

United Airlines is offering free ticket changes through May 17th for passengers who have been affected. For more details, visit United’s website.

What United Airlines says the FAA needs to do

In a new message to employees Wednesday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby emphasized “all the flights are absolutely safe. When there are FAA issues – technology outages, staffing shortages, etc. – the FAA requires all airlines to slow down aircraft and/or cancel flights to maintain the highest levels of safety.” 

He wrote in his message that the FAA says the airport can handle 77 flights per hour with full staffing and in ideal weather, but routinely approves more than 80 flights per hour between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. almost every day. 

“This math doesn’t work,” he wrote. 

Kirby pointed out that, since 2016, Newark no longer uses “slots” to make sure the number of scheduled flights per hour doesn’t exceed its maximum capacity. 

“And EWR is the only large airport in the world that no longer has this basic common-sense rule,” Kirby wrote. 

Kirby said there are a number of steps that need to be taken by the FAA to fix Newark Airport. Here’s what Kirby wrote: 

• Limit the airport to 48 flights per hour while it is under construction (this is underway)
• Return EWR to a Level 3 slot controlled airport – this is the ONLY way to achieve 77 flights per hour
• Modernize the [air traffic control] system
• And get EWR ATC fully staffed

“It’s long past time to treat EWR like the crown jewel that it is. It was a mistake to de-slot the airport in 2016 – every single data point says so – and we’ll continue to work closely with the FAA and DOT to get EWR fixed once and for all and deliver the country the first-class air traffic system it deserves,” Kirby concluded.

What the FAA is doing now

The system that processes radar data for Newark is actually based in New York. That data is fed over telecommunication lines to Philadelphia, where controllers handle Newark’s flights. 

In addition to slowing incoming flights, the FAA says it’s also taking the following steps: 

• Installing three new high-bandwidth communications between New York and Philadelphia to improve speed, reliability and redundancy
• Replacing copper wires for communication with fiberoptic wires to boost speed and bandwidth
• Standing up a backup system in Philadelphia for redundancy
• Adding a radar data center in Philadelphia, so data doesn’t need to be transmitted from New York
• Boosting controller staffing. There are 22 controllers at the Philadelphia facility that handles Newark, and 21 controllers and supervisors in training. The FAA says it has a “healthy pipeline” with filled training classes through July, 2026. 

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to announce Thursday the details of a plan to revamp the air traffic control system nationwide. 

Delays continue Wednesday

As of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, there were 84 cancellations and 27 delays. 

Two travelers who had been stranded at Newark for 24 hour spoke with CBS News New York Wednesday. They were supposed to be in Rome for a luxury cruise but had to get off two different planes due to technical issues. 

“We were on two different planes. The second one we were on twice,” Thom Sarcianelli said. “They kept saying to us, we’re going to go, we’re going to go. They went on, taxied on the runway, got so far and said ‘Well, it’s too late now, we have too many hours in the plane, we have to turn back. We will see if we can get a substitute crew.'”

Christine Sloan

Christine Sloan is an Emmy Award-winning reporter, who covers New Jersey for CBS News New York. Sloan re-joined the station in January 2023. She also worked at CBS News New York from 2004 to 2016.