United Airlines CEO wrote a letter to employees outlining what he thinks the FAA needs to do to address all the troubled delays Newark Liberty International Airport.
Delay Started last Monday Crews at Philadelphia's air traffic control facility will fly in and out of Newark Losing radar and communicating with the aircraft for at least 30 seconds.
According to the recording of the event, one person said in the tower: "I just got told that this method lost all the radar. Three of the four radar screens went black and they had no frequency."
Air flow has slowed down Since then, free entry and exit from Newark.
United Airlines will offer free ticket changes to affected passengers. For more details, visit the United Website.
United Airlines says FAA needs to do
In a new message to employees on Wednesday, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby stressed: “All flights are absolutely safe.
He wrote in the message that the FAA said airports can handle 77 flights per hour with full personnel and ideal weather, but usually more than 80 flights per hour are often approved between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
"This math doesn't work," he wrote.
Kirby noted that since 2016, Newark no longer uses "slots" to ensure that the number of scheduled flights per hour does not exceed its maximum capacity.
"EWR is the only large airport in the world that no longer has this basic common sense rule," Kirby wrote.
Kirby said the FAA needs to take many steps to fix the Newark airport. This is what he wrote:
- Under construction, airports are limited to 48 flights per hour (this is underway)
- Return EWR to Level 3 Slot Control Airport - This is the only way to achieve 77 flights per hour
- Modern (air traffic control) system
- And make EWR ATC completely employee
Kirby Total to Kirby concluded: "It has been a long time since seeing EWR as a crown jewel. It was a mistake to stand out in the airport in 2016 - every data point - we will continue to work closely with the FAA and DOT to fix the EWR once and for all and provide EWR for everyone and deliver it to the country's best-in-class air transportation system."
What is FAA doing now
The system that processes radar data in Newark is actually located in New York. The data is fed to Philadelphia via telecommunications lines, where controllers handle flights to Newark.
In addition to slowing incoming flights, the FAA also takes the following steps:
- Install three new high-bandwidth communications between New York and Philadelphia for increased speed, reliability and redundancy
- Replace copper wires to communicate with fiber wires to increase speed and bandwidth
- Standing in Philadelphia's backup system for redundancy
- Adding radar data centers in Philadelphia so there is no need to transmit data from New York
- Enhance the controller staffing. The Philadelphia facility has 22 controllers, responsible for Newark, and 21 controllers and supervisors are in training. FAA says it has a "health pipeline" Hold training courses By July 2026.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to announce on Thursday details of plans to improve the air traffic control system nationwide.
Delay continues on Wednesday
Newark Liberty had 84 cancellations and 27 delays as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Two travelers trapped 24 hours a day told CBS News New York that they were supposed to have a luxury cruise in Rome, but had to take off two different planes due to technical issues.
"We're the second time twice," Thom Sarcianelli said. "They kept saying to us, we're going, we're going. They went on. They continued to pay taxes on the runway, went so far, and said, 'Okay, it's too late. We have too many hours on the plane. We have to look back. We're going to see if we can get the substitute crew."
