Newark International Airport reopened one of its biggest departure runways 13 days ahead of schedule. The 60-day closure was meant to give the facility time to work on the runway to bring it up to current safety standards. Passengers were warned to expect delays and plan accordingly, but the situation soon devolved into a series of infrastructure malfunctions and staffing issues, leading to countless delays, cancellations, and outages. Now, the Federal Aviation Administration says the technology issues should be resolved by October 2025. Read on for the latest about the flight issues occurring at Newark Airport.

Newark Update

In mid-April, The Montclair Girl shared a report about upcoming disruptions at Newark Airport. One of the airport’s largest runways would be shut down. Runway 4L-22R closed on April 15th due to renovation plans that include a paved runway surface, updated lighting, improved airfield signs with LED lighting, new electrical infrastructure, and drainage improvements, as per EWR’s construction advisory. This runway was slated to remain closed until mid-June, but reopened 13 days ahead of schedule on June 2nd, 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Newark Liberty International Airport (@ewrlibertyairport)

This project is part of a two-year construction initiative to renovate and upgrade several of EWR's sites. This started in 2024 and is expected to continue into 2026. The next planned upgrade will be on September 16th, 2025, for the Corbin Street Ramp Project. The ramp will be closed for one year, and “all vehicular traffic will be detoured via Marlin and Kellogg streets,” as per EWR.

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While customers were forewarned about possible issues flying in/out of EWR, it took a few days for the full brunt of the work to be felt by fliers. The week of April 28th saw over 100 flight delays and cancellations each day at Newark Liberty International Airport. The number of delays and cancellations steadily rose after that. Four separate air traffic control system outages also occurred.

Newark is a major hub for United Airlines, and fliers on that airline experienced the most disruption. In a message sent to customers, the CEO of United Airlines, Scott Kirby, stated that the shortage of air traffic controllers, which has been “chronically understaffed for years,” coupled with outdated technology at EWR, was to blame for the week-long flight issues. He also claimed that “over 20% of the FAA controllers for EWR walked off the job."

"It’s now clear – and the FAA tells us – that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead,” CEO Scott Kirby said.

Starting the weekend of May 10th, United Airlines canceled 35 round-trip flights per day at EWR. “It's disappointing to make further cuts to an already reduced schedule at Newark,” CEO Scott Kirby stated, “...but since 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.”

On Monday, May 5th, Delta Air Lines Inc., which has about 30 departures a day at Newark, announced that it would also cancel a “small number” of flights due to air traffic control restraints, as per Bloomberg.

Deeper Issues

On April 28th, air traffic controllers from the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control, which directs planes to Newark Liberty International Airport, lost radar and radio communication with incoming flights and were “unable to see, hear, or talk to them,” Galen Munroe, spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), first shared with The New York Times. According to Bloomberg, communications were lost for 90 seconds.

The FAA shared in a post on n X that multiple air traffic controllers at the Philadelphia TRACON took government leave to recover from the trauma. CNN reported that at least five employees took 45 days of leave. NATCA said via a statement to CNN that these air traffic controllers “did not ‘walk off the job,'” as claimed by United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby.

Frequent equipment and telecommunications outages can be stressful for controllers. Some controllers at the Philadelphia TRACON who work Newark arrivals and departures have taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages. While we cannot quickly replace them…

— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) May 5, 2025

“Frequent equipment and telecommunications outages can be stressful for controllers,” the FAA said in the post. “While we cannot quickly replace them due to this highly specialized profession, we continue to train controllers who will eventually be assigned to this busy airspace.”

“Our antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce,” the FAA also said in an earlier post. “We are working to ensure the current telecommunications equipment is more reliable in the New York area by establishing a more resilient and redundant configuration with the local exchange carriers. In addition, we are updating our automation system to improve resiliency.”

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy sent a letter to Transportation Secretary Duffy calling for more resources for the airport. “Decades of underinvestment in the maintenance of critical air traffic control infrastructure, delays in upgrading to modern 21st-century air traffic control technology, and inadequate air traffic control staffing have resulted in a frail system nationwide,” wrote Governor Murphy.

“The FAA has stated that American airspace is short 3,000 air traffic controllers, and I appreciate your efforts to retain and hire additional controllers. As the FAA works to address the years-long shortfalls, I urge you to prioritize the region, the busiest airspace in the nation, by immediately addressing Philadelphia TRACON Area C staffing levels and developing a plan to address chronic staffing shortages at New York TRACON."

“As you work with Congress to fund additional investments in air traffic management systems, the New Jersey-New York region should be prioritized for technology and facility upgrades to help the more than 144 million passengers coming through Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) operated airports annually,” continued Governor Murphy. “We expect millions of additional passengers next year as we prepare to host the World Cup Finals and must avoid additional disruptions or strains on the system.”

Updates as of the Week of 6/9

The Federal Aviation Administration says they are confident all technology-related issues will be fixed by October 2025.

“The (transportation) secretary has been very clear with me that we need to fix this, and we’re fixing this now,” the acting head of the FAA, Chris Rocheleau, told a House budget hearing on June 4th. “The second piece to that is the staffing. I think by October, we will be very healthy in there at staffing levels that we need.”

This proposed date is attributed to the completion of the runway, which allows the FAA to focus on the airport's infrastructure and staffing issues this summer. “With the runway completed, we’ll continue our work to harden the telecoms infrastructure and improving the staffing pipeline for the airspace,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

Infrastructure updates have already begun, as a new fiber optic cable, which improves air traffic control communications, is now in place between Philadelphia and New York. The Department of Transportation has also proposed a new air traffic control system, which would be built over the next three years. The new system would improve telecommunications, radio communications, surveillance, automation, and facilities.

According to a FAA statement, the agency also plans to:

• Deploy a temporary backup system to the Philadelphia TRACON, which provides redundancy during the switch to a more reliable fiber-optic network. 
• Establish a STARS hub at the Philadelphia TRACON, meaning the facility will not depend on a New York STARS hub telecommunications feed.
• Increase controller staffing. Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which directs aircraft in and out of Newark, has 22 fully certified controllers and five fully certified supervisors. "We have a healthy pipeline of controllers ready to work at PHL, with 22 controllers and supervisors currently in training."

On June 6th, 2025, the FAA issued a final order on flight arrival rates to further make headway on the airport's improvements and fix the technological issues. Arrivals and departures are now limited to 28 each per hour during airport construction on weekends from September 1st to December 31st, 2025. During the rest of the week until October 25, 2025, arrivals and departures will not exceed 34 each per hour.

"The confirmed reduced rates will maintain safety while alleviating excessive flight delays at the airport due to staffing and equipment challenges," the FAA said in a statement.

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