Hundreds of flight delays and cancellations at one of the busiest airports in the United States over the past few days have given passengers a headache and inspired the top Democrats in the U.S. Senate Call for an investigation into this reason.

Several complex issues immediately hit Newark Liberty International Airport: shortage of air traffic controller staffing, aging technology, harsh weather and the closure of one of the airport's busiest runways.

On Monday, New York's Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on X that he asked for "a comprehensive inspection of what's going on in Newark so that these issues don't get worse or spread to airports across the country."

According to the Flight Tracking website Flightaware.

By Tuesday night, Flightaware reported that about 340 flights were postponed and 114 were cancelled on the way to and from Newark.

That morning, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed A new ground delay procedure For the airport, by about 4 pm, it is estimating Delay For planes reaching Newark for more than 4 hours.

We spoke with aviation safety and travel experts to resolve what is going on.

What happened, what was the scope and scale of the interference?

The weather is not good Three months of closure Delays were exacerbated in Newark to repair the airport's busiest flight runway.

But the shortage of air traffic controllers is one of Newark's worst problems, an issue that has affected airports across the country for many years. It has even more significance after the Jan. 29 crash between the U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter and American Airlines jets near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which killed 67 people. A comprehensive investigation into a crash Will check The role that air traffic controllers may play in the incident.

In the weeks leading up to the crash, the Trump administration has begun laying off hundreds of FAA employees as part of a federal effort to reduce workers. Officials say controllers and other "critical security personnel" are not among the people fired.

Various After a close mistake The January collision only stimulated more discussions on the need to improve the national air traffic control system.

On April 28, an air traffic controller stationed at radar entry control at the Philadelphia terminal, responsible for separating and sequencing Newark’s incoming and outgoing aircraft, losing all radar and communications with the aircraft, preventing them from hearing or talking to the pilot or talking to the pilot.

According to Transport Secretary Sean Duffy and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the communications outage lasted 30 to 90 seconds. According to some reports Hassan Shahidi, CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation, said the "shocking" time in air travel. The plane landed safely.

"Air traffic controllers need real-time uninterrupted communications and radar, without which they would not be able to manage and see aircraft in airspace," Shahidi said.

Several air traffic controllers have taken the time to deal with the stress and trauma of the experience, the Alliance and the FAA said in a statement shared with the NPR.

The FAA told NPR in a statement that the blackout was not the only thing that has happened in recent days. It said there were "recent" equipment and telecommunications outages.

However, given the high-skilled job of air traffic controllers, filling those empty chairs is very difficult - it has been a while.

In December, Manchester United CEO Scott Kirby told NPR The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has about 3,000 air traffic controllers and said the shortage will lead to nationwide delays. At the time, he pointed to Newark at Manchester United's hub, an example of an airport that requires more staff to prevent delays.

"Over the entire month in November, one million customers were delayed due to a shortage of air traffic control in Newark alone. That was the biggest problem, and it was the biggest opportunity for American customers to travel better," Kirby said at the time.

Last Friday, Kirby was tired of delays and announced that his airline immediately canceled 35 round trips a day.

In a message"We don't feel like there is any other option to protect our customers," Kirby wrote.

The FAA has been working on solving the problem of people handling it. Last week, Duffy Announce A new recruitment awards and retention incentive program to promote recruitment controllers.

There is a lot of discussion about aging technology. How does this work?

Newark’s chaos highlights aging air traffic technology the airline industry relies on, aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti Tell NPR Now and now Tuesday.

“Air traffic controllers are also challenged by equipment that is difficult to upgrade and is quickly outdated,” he said.

Guzzetti added that FAA needs to address modern infrastructure and attract more controllers to work traffic.

As flight delays and cancellations continue, the FAA said it is making changes to ensure existing telecommunications equipment and automation systems are more reliable.

Tuesday Outside the White House in the afternoonDuffy said he proposed a plan to create a new air traffic control system for President Trump, who signed the proposal.

Duffy also accused the Biden administration of not being enough to modernize the air traffic control system.

He said the current system is "a history of 25 to 50 years", with copper wire, outdated radios and radar.

Do passengers have to worry about safety?

No, according to the FAA and aviation expert Duffy.

The FAA said it could “ensure continuous safety by slowing arrivals to the airport”, meaning delays, canceling Newark in some cases.

Shahidi of the Flight Safety Foundation said the FAA and air traffic controllers “never compromise on safety.” “If the facility is not staffed, it will certainly reduce capacity but will not compromise safety.”

"We have controllers who are trained and do a good job. We have trained pilots and they are doing well. So from this perspective, we don't see the problem."

How fast is it to solve?

Sean Cudahy, senior aviation journalist at travel site The Points Guy, said simply: “There is no good sign when it will end.”

He added: "The problems that cause this fueling won't go away anytime soon. You've already had this shortage of air traffic controllers that are totally shortage, and it's really exacerbated here in recent days. They won't come back immediately, and you know, you know, you know, in all the possible summer, you're going to continue to cause problems."

Overall it will take a long time to solve the commercial aviation industry.

As for the controller staff shortage, Aviation Safety Consultant Guzzetti said the job “has unique skills. So you have to find people with inherent skills and then you have to train them.”

Even after that, there is a "30% flush rate" and once the initial steps are completed, there is about two years of training.

"It takes even longer to modernize the system," he added.

How should passengers prepare if they fly in Newark?

Cudahy, along with Copty Guy, urged passengers to enter and exit Newark to plan.

He recommends that you check out their airline website’s travel consultation, which may give passengers the opportunity to transfer flights to other airports, such as Laguardia near New York City.

What if your travel plan includes a connection to Newark? Cudahy recommends getting them straight to flight.

Finally, he reminded the passenger transport department of policy that allows Full refund If your flight is cancelled or is greatly delayed. However, a refund is only possible if the passenger does not accept the original airline's rebooking flight.

"If you accept rebooking, you are not entitled to a refund under federal policy even after 36 hours," Kudashi said.