On 20 May 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed restrictions on the arrival and departure of flights from the Newark International Airport, New Jersey. This has caused a lot of flights to delay and many of them got cancelled in the effect of the restrictions.
Why has the FAA imposed restrictions on Flight
The main reason for this action is that the airport has dealt with several incidents in recent days. The radar and radio system has been found faulty due to which many flights faced problems in landing and communicatingwitho the control center. If the action wasn’t taken we cannot be sure that any life-threatening incident could have occurred.
In addition, there is a profound shortage of staff at the airport to control the air traffic. The runaways are under construction which pose a potential threat to the safety of the passengers landing on them.
What actions are taken to tackle this situation?
To fix these ongoing issues, the FAA has decided to limit the number of flights arriving and departing the airport to 28 flights per hour for each. That means, 28 flights can arrive and 28 flights can depart the airport within an hour on the airport. This action is taken to reduce the air traffic and pressure on the radar and radio systems until they are back to normal functioning. This will be the schedule till June 15, 2025, after which the limit will be increased to 34 flights incoming and outgoing from the airport till 25 October 2025. Other than that, every weekend from September to December, the limit will be reduced back to 28 each, so that the construction of runways can be done much faster.
Other airlines’ response to the actions taken by the FAA
United Airlines came in support of the FAA, stating that the actions taken were fair and wise. They have also accepted the restrictions imposed by the FAA with utmost respect, saying that the restrictions gave them relief regarding the safety of their passengers.
Reducing the hourly traffic at the busiest hours of flight operation will help the Newark International Airport regulate the traffic efficiently as well as ensure the safety of the passengers.
Public distress over technical issues of the Airport
The public is still not convinced whether traveling would be safe in the midst of the technical and staffing issues faced by the Airport. Despite several reports that claim the ride sis afe, the public is still doubting their decisions. According to them, the runways are under construction which poses a threat if some mishapenning takes place. In addition, the staffing issues of the Airport have made the public lose their trust in the airlines.
The actual reason for such absenteeism among the staff in controlling the air traffic is that, due to the radio and radar outage, the air controllers lost track of the flight, which led to delays and a mess in its landing. After the incident, many of the air controllers left their jobs, opening vacancies for the position. Now, at present, 24 air controllers are present to regulate the number of flights that are landing and departing. The number used to be 38 earlier, with 26 trainees in hand.
Conclusion
The shortage in the number of air controllers has caused the employees to work overtime and regulate such a high traffic at the airport all by themselves. Also, they are being forced to train people who can fill in the vacant posts of air controllers and thus, help in the regulation of the air traffic. The transportation secretary, Sean Duffy has organised recruitment drives to collect people in their staff.
At this point, the airline needs active hiring for staff relaxation. In addition, they need to make the public comfortable with the idea of traveling and provide them the ways they ensure their safety in case of any unfortunate incident. The construction should be finished as soon as possible to bring the airline back on track.
