Newark airport had three air traffic controllers on duty instead of 14

The Guardian ^ | Tue 13 May 2025 | Edward Helmore

[MinorityRepublican]

New Jersey’s Newark Liberty airport, one of three major airports serving New York City, had just three air traffic controllers on duty on Monday, which was well short of the 14 called for and forced air regulators to delay arriving flights for up to seven hours.

The air traffic controller shortfall, first reported by the New York Times, comes amid a growing number of problems for the hub. In a little more than a week, Newark has suffered three communications blackouts, rendering the control tower unable to track or communicate with planes for up to 90 seconds.

The most recent failure, on Sunday morning, came as government and airline officials have made multiple efforts to reassure airline passengers that flying into or out of the airport is safe.

But on Monday evening, during the 3pm to 10pm shift, the group that manages Newark air traffic from Philadelphia was operating with one or two fully certified controllers, the outlet reported – far fewer than the 14 controllers agreed on between the controllers union and air traffic control regulators.

The transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, on Monday said a new software update had prevented the previous day’s issues from multiplying after aviation officials issued a 45-minute ground stop.

In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it “briefly slowed aircraft in and out of the airport while we ensured redundancies were working as designed.

“Operations have returned to normal.’’

That came after Duffy announced plans to reduce the number of flights arriving and departing from Newark for the “next several weeks” and would meet with the airport’s major carriers to discuss the issues. Flight reductions, he said, would target the hours when international flights arrive.

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TOPICS: US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS:

[Dr. Franklin]

Honestly, I think we’ve taken government efficiency a little too far with the ATCs. I want more on the job.

[Leaning Right]

> had just three air traffic controllers on duty on Monday <

The article doesn’t say. But if one is a person of color, and one is a transsexual or gay, and one is a female Muslim - then all of the boxes have been checked off.

Then no problem. Let’s all move on now.

[Bonemaker]

[HartleyMBaldwin]

forced air regulators to delay arriving flights for up to seven hours

How do they do that? Make them pull into a siding?

[Texan5]

I don’t think any money-saving measures were at play there-more likely the ACT’s claiming stress/trauma over the (totally preventable) near-accident happenings at Newark and other airports, and having days off for the resulting vapors...

[VAFreedom]

if that’s the case fire them all

[Jeff Chandler]

Are you absolutely certain that this problem was caused by President Trump? Because it sounds as if you are saying that this problem was caused by President Trump.

[ronnie raygun]

This needs to be fixed pronto

[Dr. Franklin]

Are you absolutely certain that this problem was caused by President Trump? Because it sounds as if you are saying that this problem was caused by President Trump.

I didn't state that President Trump caused the problem. When the systems in use from the previous administration haven't been updated, more people are needed to do the job until the problem is fixed. Things will improve under Trump, but it will take some time, and Congress needs to allocate more money to fix the problem.