{"id":173900,"date":"2025-05-03T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/?p=173900"},"modified":"2025-05-03T16:14:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T16:14:36","slug":"united-cuts-10-of-daily-flights-in-newark-due-to-air-traffic-control-staff-shortages-and-outdated-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/2025\/05\/united-cuts-10-of-daily-flights-in-newark-due-to-air-traffic-control-staff-shortages-and-outdated-technology.html","title":{"rendered":"United Cuts 10% of Daily Flights in Newark Due to Air Traffic Control Staff Shortages and Outdated Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

United Airlines<\/strong> announced on Friday that it would cancel dozens of daily flights at its Newark hub, citing technological failures and a critical shortage of personnel at the FAA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Drastic Measure Amid an Unsustainable Situation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Starting this weekend, United Airlines will reduce its daily operations at Newark Airport by 10%, meaning 35 fewer flights per day. The decision was announced by the company\u2019s CEO, Scott Kirby, in an email to customers, following a week marked by massive delays, cancellations, and diversions at one of the busiest airports in the New York area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirby directly blamed the failures on the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s (FAA) outdated technology and air traffic control staffing shortages. In his words: “The technology that FAA air traffic controllers use to manage planes arriving and departing from Newark failed, resulting in dozens of diverted flights, hundreds of delayed and canceled flights, and worst of all, thousands of passengers with disrupted travel plans.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 20% of Newark\u2019s Air Traffic Controllers Have Left Their Posts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The situation worsened when more than 20% of the air traffic controllers assigned to Newark\u2019s airspace abandoned their duties, pushing the disruption to a critical level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2192 U.S.: FAA to Deploy New NOTAM System Following Multiple Failures<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s worth noting that last year, the FAA decided to transfer control of Newark\u2019s airspace to Philadelphia to alleviate traffic and address staffing shortages in the New York area. However, this temporary solution has not prevented the system\u2019s deterioration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outdated Technology and a Collapsing System<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During a visit to the FAA\u2019s approach radar facilities in Philadelphia, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was blunt: “The technology we\u2019re using is antiquated. That\u2019s what\u2019s causing the outages and delays we\u2019re seeing in Newark.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secretary Duffy revealed that next week, he will present a plan to overhaul the air traffic control infrastructure, which he described as “severely deteriorated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Chris Rocheleau, the FAA\u2019s Acting Administrator, confirmed that a team is already investigating the disruptions in Newark. He emphasized the need to provide controllers with “adequate equipment and sufficient staffing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airlines Request Extension for Flight Reductions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The issue is not unique to United. Several U.S. airlines have asked the FAA to extend until October 2027 the waivers on minimum flight requirements at congested airports like those in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Normally, airlines must use at least 80% of their slots (takeoff and landing rights) to retain them. However, due to staffing shortages, the FAA has granted special permission to operate fewer flights without losing these valuable slots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortage of 3,500 Air Traffic Controllers in the U.S.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The root of the problem runs deep: the FAA faces a shortage of approximately 3,500 controllers compared to its staffing target. This chronic shortage has forced many employees to work mandatory overtime and six-day weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last November, United had already been forced to reduce operations in Newark due to FAA staffing shortages, affecting over 343,000 passengers in just a dozen days. The newly announced cuts add to these previous reductions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

United\u2019s decision not only impacts thousands of passengers daily but also highlights a structural problem that threatens to persist unless urgent measures are taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aviaci\u00f3n al D\u00eda","author_link":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/author\/aad"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"United Airlines announced on Friday that it would cancel dozens of daily flights at its Newark hub, citing…","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173902,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173900\/revisions\/173902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aviacionaldia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}