The nation’s aviation regulator plans to upgrade technology infrastructure and staffing levels for air-traffic controllers that oversee flights bound for Newark Liberty International Airport after a critical outage led to more than week of severe flight disruptions.
Three new high-bandwidth data connections will be added to provide more reliability and redundancy between control systems in New York and Philadelphia that handle air traffic at Newark Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement on Wednesday.
The agency and the Transportation Department also plan to replace copper wire telecommunications infrastructure with fiber optic lines and deploy a backup system at the Philadelphia site as they make the switch.
Flights have been delayed or outright canceled at Newark for several days since last week, when the Philadelphia facility guiding planes in and out of the airport lost radar and radio communications for about 90 seconds. The FAA has been slowing arrivals and departures at the airport due to staffing shortages in Philadelphia, as well as runway construction at Newark.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to release a plan on Thursday to overhaul the US’s aging air traffic control system, including upgrading facilities and equipment. The effort gained momentum after a deadly midair collision near Washington in January, and the latest issues at Newark have only added more urgency to address the problems.
In addition to the technology improvements at Newark, the FAA said that it will increase staffing at the Philadelphia facility. Currently, there are 22 fully certified controllers at the site and 21 controllers and supervisors in training — 10 of which are receiving on-the-job training now, the regulator said.
Duffy told reporters on Tuesday that he’s considering bringing in all of the airlines that serve Newark to discuss how best to manage flights from that airport.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. cut 35 daily round trips at the key hub, its biggest for international departures and a primary gateway for domestic travel. Delta Air Lines Inc. also trimmed flights over the air traffic control issues.
