Reduced daily flights at Newark Airport by United Airlines due to controller shortage in air traffic operations
Hold Up, Newark Airport's in a Mess - Again
(Warning: Strong Language Ahead)
Newark Liberty International Airport, that bustling hub outside NYC, turned into a hot mess once more over the weekend. Long delays, cancellations? Yep, you guessed it! Thanks to a shortage of air traffic controllers, passenger suffering was the name of the game.
The blame game's on high voltage, with United Airlines pointing the finger at the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) alleged negligence towards long-simmering challenges related to the air-traffic control system. United CEO, Scott Kirby, threw down the gauntlet, claiming the technology used to manage planes at Newark failed more than once in recent days. To make matters worse, over one-fifth of Newark's traffic controllers were nowhere to be seen, according to Kirby.
"Enough's enough!" Kirby ranted in a scathing letter to customers. "This particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, it's now clear - and the FAA tells us - that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead."
The FAA confirmed that staffing issues were causing average delays of nearly two hours and ones as long as five hours for flights headed for Newark in the morning. Departures were delayed by an average of 45 minutes. By late afternoon, arriving flights were running more than three hours behind schedule on average, while the delay for departing flights had shortened to a half-hour on average.
The chaos didn't end at Newark. The ripple effect was felt in other major cities like Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, and more, as per FlightAware's "misery map."
If you're thinking that United decided to take a vacation during this chaos, guess again. United operates more flights out of Newark than any other carrier, and 35 flights represent about 10% of its round-trip domestic schedule. To add insult to injury, the airport itself warned travelers about delays as early as Thursday, blaming both staffing issues and "construction."
So, what's the solution? The Trump administration claimed it was trying to "supercharge" the air traffic controller workforce and make moves to address the nation's shortage of controllers. The U.S. transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, announced a program to recruit new controllers and give existing ones incentives to stay on the job. But hey, let's not forget that this shortage is far from a new issue. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a workers' union, said the system is " long overdue for technology and infrastructure upgrades."
Duffy visited the air traffic controllers on Friday to address the equipment outages, which he blamed on decades-old technology. As for the airlines, well, they're caught in the crossfire. With President Donald Trump's trade war looming over the economy, it's just another source of uncertainty adding fuel to the fire. United recently made the unusual move to offer two separate forecasts for its financial performance this year, one if there were a recession and one if there wasn't.
Now, you might be wondering what's next for Newark Airport. Well, the struggles continue with over 90% of the country's airport towers below FAA standards. Let's see what the future holds. For now, happy travels, folks!
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