FAA meets airline execs on Newark airport woes

Newark Liberty International Airport has faced many disruptions in recent weeks. Technology outages, air traffic controller shortages and runway construction at the busy New Jersey hub have led to scores of cancelled and delayed flights.

- NIRAJ CHOKSHI

The Federal Aviation Administration says it's trying to improve the situation, including with software and hardware upgrades. On Wednesday, it met with airline executives to discuss how to run things smoothly by reducing the number of flights at the airport during any given hour.

In a Senate hearing on aviation safety Wednesday, Sen Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said the agency had had a “multiyear failure to keep pace with technology and staffing needs.”

STAFFING SHORTAGES

Air traffic control facilities nationwide have not had enough controllers — the professionals who guide planes into and out of airports — for years, a result of employee turnover, tight budgets, long training times and other factors.

There are only 22 certified controllers employed to serve Newark, which is about a third shy of the staffing target of 38, according to the FAA. The agency also employs five supervisors and nearly two dozen controllers and supervisors in training. Ten trainees can do at least some work without extra supervision, the agency said this week.

Tight staffing has at times disrupted operations at Newark. For several hours Monday, for example, limited staffing forced the FAA to prevent flights bound for Newark from leaving other airports. Those delays averaged an hour and 40 minutes and lasted as long as nearly seven hours. For part of the evening, as few as three air traffic controllers were working when the staffing target was 14.