FAA issues interim order to reduce flight arrival, departure rate at Newark airport
The maximum hourly rate will be 28 arrivals and 28 departures until runway construction is complete.
The FAA is issuing an interim order reducing the flight arrival and departure rate at Newark Liberty International Airport.
From flight delays to staffing shortages to equipment issues, Newark Liberty can’t seem to catch a break. The FAA lowered the number of flights in and out of Newark, with the goal of relieving some of those challenges.
Operations were back to normal at Newark Airport Tuesday, but on Monday, there was another radio outage at the air traffic control station responsible for flights in and out of Newark. This was the fourth incident at the airport since April 28.
News 12 spoke with professor Kenneth Solosky, a retired chief pilot for both the Newark Police Department and the New York Police Department, and he’s concerned about recent news surrounding one of the busiest airspaces in the world.
In recent weeks, the air traffic control station Philadelphia TRACON Area C, responsible for flights in and out of Newark Liberty, has experienced several telecommunication outages where air traffic controllers lost contact with planes. But what does that mean, when you’re in the sky?
"It’s some tense moments, if I’m on final approach into Newark Airport, I’m expecting that landing clearance to be transmitted at any time, and it never comes," Solosky said.
At times, a lot of decisions need to be made in a short amount of time.
"Do I continue? Do I land? Do I go around? A lot of decisions have to be made by a lot of people because the final can be occupied by 10, 15, 20 aircrafts inbound for a particular airport," Solosky said.
Airline leaders and the FAA met last week to discuss lowering the number of flights at Newark.
Now, that’s a done deal, the maximum will be 28 arrivals and 28 departures hourly, during runway construction. That construction is slated to be completed by June 15th, but will continue on Saturdays until the end of the year.
The FAA says, outside of the construction period, 34 arrivals and departures will be allowed per hour until Oct. 25.
In a statement, the FAA said in part:
“Our goal is to relieve the substantial inconvenience to the traveling public from excessive flight delays due to construction, staffing challenges, and recent equipment issues, which magnify as they spread through the National Airspace System,”
These dramatic cuts come amid weeks of travel turmoil at the airport. Normally, Newark sees 77 flights per hour.
