While things aren't fully back to normal at Newark Liberty International Airport, they do seem to be a bit better on Wednesday. The Federal Aviation Administration announced further steps it plans to take to help air traffic flow more smoothly at one of the New York metro's major airports as summer approaches.
Newark has been in various stages of meltdown since April 28, when a temporary radio and radar outage briefly caused controllers to lose track of and communication with incoming flights. Since then, a handful of the controllers on duty during the outage have taken trauma leave. On top of that, poor weather, runway construction and uncertainty around the technology controllers rely on to keep flights safe and flowing smoothly have all conspired to make for a difficult few weeks in the New Jersey skies.
According to flight tracking website FlightAware, there were 69 departures and 81 arrivals canceled at Newark on Tuesday, and a ground delay program meant that more than 200 incoming flights were delayed.
On Wednesday, both cancelations and delays seem to be lower so far, and the FAA has not instituted a ground delay program for Newark as of 12:30 p.m. ET.
The agency said in a press release that it is taking steps to smooth things over at Newark.
"The FAA has been slowing arrivals and departures at Newark Liberty International Airport due to runway construction at Newark and staffing and technology issues at Philadelphia TRACON, which guides aircraft in and out of the airport," the agency said in a statement. "The FAA is taking immediate steps to improve the reliability of operations at Newark Liberty International Airport. This includes accelerating technological and logistical improvements and increasing air traffic controller staffing."
The statement explained that radar data for controllers who handle traffic to and from Newark is processed in New York by a system called STARS, but the controllers are based in Philadelphia. Part of the problem that kicked off the current issues at the airport was a failure in the telecommunications connection that transmits data to the TRACON facility where the controllers work.
To that end, here are the steps the agency said it plans to implement:
In a message to travelers, Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, said that flying in general and Newark's airspace specifically, remains safe, despite the recent equipment issues.
"All the flights in and out of EWR 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," the statement said.
Still, Kirby took the opportunity to encourage the FAA to institute more rigorous controls on traffic volumes at Newark. United Airlines operates a major hub at the airport, and Kirby has been critical of the regulator for allowing more flights than he says the airport can handle most days.
"In ideal weather, with full staffing and with perfectly functioning technology, the FAA tells us that the airport can only handle 77 flights per hour. And yet, the FAA regularly approves schedules of 80+ flights per hour almost every day between 3:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.," his statement said. "This math doesn't work. Especially when there is weather, staffing issues or technology breakdowns - the airspace, taxiways, and runways get backed up and gridlock occurs."
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Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.