United Airlines cuts 35 daily flights at Newark airport, citing shortage of air traffic controllers

NEW YORK AP Passengers with flights to or from Newark Liberty International Airport encountered long delays and cancellations Saturday due to an air traffic controller shortage a nationwide predicament the Trump administration has pledged to fix The busy airport outside New York City experienced disruptions all week Faulting the Federal Aviation Administration s alleged failure to address long-simmering challenges related to the air-traffic control system United Airlines cut daily flights from its Newark schedule starting Saturday United CEO Scott Kirby stated the innovation used to manage planes at the New Jersey airport failed more than once in contemporary days The flight delays cancellations and diversions the equipment problems caused were compounded when more than one-fifth of Newark s traffic controllers walked off the job he noted This particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers it s now clear and the FAA tells us that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead Kirby wrote in a letter to customers Airport status reports from the FAA content reported staffing issues were causing average delays of nearly two hours for particular arriving flights at Newark and average delays of minutes for departures Two days earlier Newark Liberty International Airport pointed to both staffing issues and construction when warning travelers about delays The Trump administration says it s been trying to supercharge the air traffic controller workforce and make moves to address the nation s shortage of controllers The U S transportation secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday reported a initiative to recruit new controllers and give existing ones incentives not to retire The National Air Traffic Controllers Association a workers union mentioned at the time that those moves could help address staffing shortages but it also revealed the system is long overdue for instrument and infrastructure upgrades Duffy declared on Friday that he visited with our hard working air traffic controllers as we work to fix these equipment outages caused by outdated instrument United s decision to pare back its flight schedule in Newark come at an already uncertain time for U S airlines Likely customers across the industry are reconsidering whether to fly for work or for vacation given all the unknowns about what President Donald Trump s agreement war will do to the market system Uncertainty is so high that United in recent days made the extraordinary move to offer two separate forecasts for how it could perform financially this year one if there were a recession and one if not From Newark United flies to U S cities and international destinations Source