Major delays and cancellations that have been plaguing travelers coming in and out of the Newark Liberty International Airport in the past week could continue well into the next week and beyond if multiple issues, including staffing shortages and equipment malfunctions, aren't solved.
The Federal Aviation Administration has issued several ground delays and ground stops at the New Jersey airport, which is located just outside New York City and is among the busiest airports in the country. At one point, arriving flights were delayed as long as six hours, while departures faced nearly four-hour delays, CBS New York reported.
The FAA has blamed equipment outages and staffing levels in Philadelphia, where the air traffic control center that oversees Newark's airspace is based, as well as runway construction.
But the main issue that kick-started a chain of delays came after a number of system outages, including when controllers' screens essentially went dark for up to 90 seconds — causing them to lose the ability to track aircraft at a key facility handling traffic in and out of Newark.
Here's what travelers should know about the issues at the 12th busiest airport in the U.S.
Air traffic control staffing shortageOne of the reasons Newark airport has been dealing with disruptions and long wait times for more than a week is due to air traffic control staffing shortage, according to the FAA.
The staffing shortages at a terminal air traffic control facility in Philadelphia, officially known as Terminal Radar Approach Control or TRACON, reduced the facility's ability to provide approach control services to aircraft arriving, departing, or transiting the airspace.
The FAA said it instituted a "flow constrained area" — a line in space that is drawn across a specific area that air traffic controllers are monitoring after traffic had reached a point where it is considered to be a potential issue — in Newark due to the Philadelphia TRACON staffing. It means traffic managers have to look at possible ways of metering the air traffic across the area to ensure that it does not exceed what controllers can actually handle, the National Business Aviation Association explained.
When the staffing gets low, the FAA runs what's called an Airspace Flow Program, which is a traffic management program that consists of delaying flights to spread out the traffic such that available staffing can safely handle the demand. The mitigation is typically implemented in the summer in and out of Florida due to heavy traffic.
The Philadelphia TRACON has been guiding some air traffic at Newark after the agency relocated a group of controllers there from New York last year in an effort to help staffing overall. It is part of a nationwide problem with more than 90% of country's airport towers are staffed below FAA standards, according to a CBS News analysis earlier this year.
Equipment issues, "lost radar," staff on trauma leaveLate last week, 20% of air traffic controllers in Philadelphia called out of work, citing trauma due to equipment outages any frustration with the ongoing issues, a source familiar with the situation told CBS News.
But the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a union representing air traffic controllers and other aviation workers nationwide, disputed that, saying in a statement that Philadelphia TRACON workers "did not 'walk off the job' as it has been reported by the media."
Around the major time delays began last week, the air traffic controllers on April 28 "temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them," the union said in the statement on May 5.
"Due to the event, the controllers took absence under the Federal Employees Compensation Act. This program covers all federal employees that are physically injured or experience a traumatic event on the job," the union said.
The controllers who are out in trauma leave can take up to 45 days off, if a medical professional signs off, but they don't have to take the full time.
On May 2, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy traveled to the Philadelphia TRACON facility following a visit by FAA officials earlier in the week to try to get a better direct understanding of the situation. There are concerns the issues may linger beyond a week.
"When we talk about Newark, specifically in the outage or the interruption, we want to make sure that equipment is solid for the controllers that are coming to work every day, so that they can depend on that they depend on that equipment and making sure they're properly trained," acting FAA administrator Chris Rocheleau said at a new conference.
Runway construction at Newark airportBeginning April 15, Newark airport said it fully closed one of its three runways for rehabilitation work as part of a $121 million project.
"This work is designed to maintain the runway in a state of good repair, improve its infrastructure, meet the latest FAA standards, and ensure its continued safe operation," the airport said on its website.
Runway 4L-22R is the busiest at Newark for departing flights, according to the airport, and the FAA is redirecting flight traffic to the airport's other runways, contributing to more congestion.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees Newark airport as well as New York City's LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International Airport, said that the first three months of 2025 were the second busiest in agency's history in terms of passenger volumes.
The 11,000-foot-long, 150-foot-wide runway was last rehabilitated in 2014, according to the airport. The current project will include a new paved surface and upgraded lighting and signage, and the construction is expected to last until mid-June, Newark airport said.
The FAA partially blamed the runway construction for the delays, but the construction project has been long running and airlines have factored that in. It was expected to cause delays, according to the airport, but not a meltdown.
Fallout from the delaysDue to the equipment issues and staffing problems, United Airlines canceled 35 flights per day from its Newark schedule starting the first weekend of May. United CEO Scott Kirby said in a letter that the "long-simmering FAA challenges" had "boiled over."
"In the past few days, on more than one occasion, technology that FAA air traffic controllers rely on to manage the airplanes coming in and out of Newark airport failed — resulting in dozens of diverted flights, hundreds of delayed and canceled flights and worst of all, thousands of customers with disrupted travel plans," he wrote.
As the delays continued into the second week, lawmakers including Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, called for an investigation into the FAA and the ongoing issues.
"To say that there is just minor turbulence at Newark Airport and the FAA would be the understatement of the year. We're here because the FAA is really a mess. This mess needs a real forensic look, a deep look into it," Schumer said as he called on the inspector general for the Department of Transportation to investigate and blamed the outage partially on a burnt copper wire.
Secretary Duffy has said he will soon release the details of a new plan to revamp the decades-old air traffic control system.
"The disruption, canceled flights or delayed flights. People get angry, they get annoyed, they get frustrated, and rightfully so," Duffy told reporters at an event announcing efforts to improve air traffic control hiring on May 1. "But what I think you're seeing is, you're starting to see cracks in the system, and you can see them in different locations, and it's our job, all of us, working together, to not wait until there's a disaster."
Kiki Intarasuwan