Weeks from the start of the summer travel season, cascading delays and cancellations at one of the nation’s busiest airports—Newark Liberty International (EWR) in New Jersey, close to New York City—are not only rippling throughout the U.S. but also reigniting the debate about how to fix the country’s aging aviation infrastructure and chronic air traffic controller shortages.
The solution, an overhaul of the country’s air traffic control system outlined this week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, will likely cost billions of dollars and won’t yield positive results for years. In the near term, then, the government said it must fall back on the most basic fix of all: slowing the rate of arrivals to ensure safety.
What happened at Newark Airport?
What started in late April during a not-untypical week of flight snafus in New York’s notoriously congested airspace turned into something far worse when, on April 28, controllers lost all contact with Newark-bound flights for roughly 90 seconds.
“To put that in perspective, that’s an eternity if you’re talking about planes in midair traveling at hundreds of miles an hour,” said William McGee, senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project and a former flight dispatcher. As scary as that sounds, airline and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sources point out that planes can communicate with their ground dispatchers, and there are collision avoidance systems that set off alarms if planes get too close to one another in the sky.
Fortunately, the system came back on, and flights continued safely to their destinations. It’s still unclear what exactly caused the failure (other than aging equipment), but several controllers working the Newark flights at an FAA “approach center” in Philadelphia (which covers traffic within 50 miles of the airport) subsequently took medical “trauma” leave that by law can last up to 45 days, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. That’s worsened the existing controller shortage in the New York area.
The problem, of course, goes well beyond one airport.
“Our antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce,” a FAA spokesperson said in a statement provided to Afar, noting that “some controllers have taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages . . . and we cannot quickly replace them due to this highly specialized profession.”
This week, however, the FAA did move to beef up staffing at the Philly center by calling for air traffic control supervisors from around the country to pitch in temporarily.
United scales back Newark flights
With no end in sight to the fiasco at Newark, which led to the cancellation or delay of more than 1,000 flights last week, the airport’s largest airline tenant, United Airlines, announced it would scale back operations at one of its most important hubs. United is cutting 35 daily departures from its domestic schedule at Newark, a 10 percent reduction in its capacity at the hub, and that’s on top of previous cuts it had made in its schedule there, the airline said.
While admitting the decision to reduce service was “disappointing,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement that “it’s clear that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead.”
He added that because “there is no way to resolve the near-term structural FAA staffing issues, we feel like there is no other choice in order to protect our customers.”
What’s the proposed fix?
Longtime observers note that this is hardly a new problem. Air traffic control has been plagued by aging equipment and staffing shortages for years.
Workplace burnout, compounded by system outages as well as staffing shortfalls exacerbated by the pandemic, has contributed to the present crisis. How did we get to this point? “There’s plenty of blame to go around,” according to McGee, but much of it falls on Congress, which has repeatedly failed to provide adequate funding for training, staffing, and the equipment needed to bring the technology controllers use into the 21st century.
With concerns about air safety already on the rise after a fatal crash in January in Washington, D.C., and a series of near-misses at airports, the Department of Transportation (DOT) this month unveiled plans to boost controller hiring efforts with a package of incentives, expedited hiring and training programs, and a bonus for controllers who are eligible to retire but stay on the job. Currently, there are about 14,000 air traffic controllers, according to the FAA, following a push last year to increase numbers—but there are still many unfilled positions, especially in high-stress areas such as New York.
Is it safe to fly from Newark in the meantime?
Airlines, for their part, are working to quell fears about flying—at Newark in particular. “All the flights in and out of EWR are absolutely safe,” United’s Kirby said in a statement. “When there are FAA issues—technology outages, staffing shortages, etc.—the FAA requires all airlines to slow down aircraft or delay or cancel flights to maintain the highest levels of safety.”
He added, “We also have procedures that our pilots follow to reestablish communication if controllers lose radio contact to navigate the airplane safely to its destination.”
Meanwhile, this week, Secretary Duffy kicked off what he claims will be a “brand-new, state-of-the-art” aviation infrastructure system. “We are going to radically transform the way air traffic control looks,” he said.
The fixes will include replacing aging copper wiring with fiber optics and transitioning away from conventional radar to a satellite-based tracking system. So far, $12.5 billion already earmarked by Congress for air traffic control improvements will be applied as a “down payment” for the ambitious project, Duffy said this week. He conceded, however, that this effort could take at least three or four years to complete—and that’s if it can get the necessary funding, which will run into many more billions of dollars.
What travelers can do to safeguard their trip
There may be some relief at Newark starting in June, when a runway that’s currently closed due to construction (also contributing to the delays) is set to reopen. But, according to anecdotal reports on travel forums, many travelers aren’t waiting for results and are booking flights to and from other New York area airfields: namely, LaGuardia (LGA) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Switching airports, though, is no guarantee of a glitch-free flying experience. In general, delays in one region tend to reverberate through the entire domestic flight system. Here are some tips on what all travelers can do to have a smoother flying journey.
- Sign up for alerts with your airline and/or a flight monitoring app. Make sure you’re getting frequent updates by text, not just for your flight, but also for the incoming aircraft that will be operating your flight. Services like FlightAware and FlightRadar24 can provide a history of the flight that can help you spot and avoid the least punctual flights.
- Leave a day or two early. If you have anything scheduled at your destination that you can’t afford to miss, build in some buffer time in case flights are canceled or delayed.
- Consider extra trip insurance. Look into getting trip insurance that would cover a wide range of events. If in doubt, add “cancel for any reason” coverage for an additional fee that will cover the vast majority of travel disruptions.
- Pack only a carry-on if you can. Arriving at your destination on time but having your luggage take a detour is not the best way to start a trip. Consider bringing all your belongings in carry-on luggage.
- Learn what you’re owed if things go awry. Bone up on consumer protection rules, in both the U.S. and the European Union. The DOT’s online airline customer service “dashboard” can come in handy, showing you exactly what the airlines have committed to in terms of compensation for flight delays and cancellations.
