Airport’s traffic crisis takes terrifying turn
A major airport in the US will have just one controller to oversee up to 180 takeoffs and landings as its air traffic crisis takes a terrifying turn.
The safety nightmare continues at Newark Liberty International Airport, where all air traffic control will be manned by just one fully qualified person during its busiest time on Monday night local time, The Post can exclusively reveal.
One air traffic controller (ATC) and a trainee will operate every flight in and out of Newark between 6.30pm to 9.30pm — despite 15 staffers being the standard requirement for a shift.
A New York-based ATC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the situation as “pure insanity” and warned that the schedule shows the control tower for the airport will operate “at bare bones” while between 168 and 180 planes are scheduled to take off and land.
It comes after the New Jersey airport was initially facing a “zero ATC event” – a term used by industry workers to describe the doomsday scenario of no one showing up – Monday afternoon.
“One of the controllers is cancelling his day off and coming into work. But that’s not going to safely cover the entire system,” the whistleblower warned The Post.
An FAA spokesperson said there would be “no point at which we will have zero air traffic controllers” on Monday night.
“There are at least three controllers scheduled for each hour,” she said, but did not clarify how many of them were fully certified or trainees.
Only fully certified ATCs are authorised to manage both incoming and outgoing flights.
The control room for EWR typically has five radarscopes which cover different sectors – with one ATC monitoring one each, the source added.
If only one or two fully certified ATCs are working the entire airspace it means they have to juggle all radarscopes and flights in and out of Newark and smaller airports in the area on their individual screens.
He claimed a similar situation had occurred on Sunday when only two ATC’s were on for the night shift.
“15 is the target for Newark. Anything less than half of that is rough. Safety begins to be compromised,” he said, adding that he has “never seen anything like this” in his decades-long career.
“If you get below half of that standard, so seven, your safety begins to be compromised and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) knows that. So what they’ll do is put out ground stop delays and that’s what we’re seeing across the country.
“But it’s still just dangerous when 1-3 controllers are getting slammed.”
The FAA previously said Newark’s airport chaos has being exacerbated by at least five ATC’s who took “trauma leave” of up to 45 days to cope with the stress of the first equipment failure.
The FAA spokesperson added “there were more than two controllers working in PHL area C each hour … throughout yesterday evening” but did not specify the number.
“We plan for staffing with traffic management initiatives to ensure safety is never compromised,” she added.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) did not return The Post’s request for comment.
However, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy gave a press conference about Newark where he said: “I think it is clear that the blame belongs with the last administration. Joe Biden did nothing to fix the system they knew was broke.”
Duffy claimed his predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, failed to oversee a smooth transition of Newark’s airspace to the troubled Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), in July 2024, creating problems that caused chaos on Friday and Sunday when air traffic control equipment experienced outages.
According to Duffy, his team has installed a software update that will allow a backup data feed to prevent terrifying full outages of radar and communications — which have happened twice in recent weeks.
He said he is working with Verizon and L3Harris to speed up the installation of additional fibre optic data feeds between New York and the Philly TRACON, which would also buttress the system.
That fix, however, will not happen until the end of May at the earliest.
The airspace around New York and New Jersey is considered one of the “busiest and most complex” sectors in the nation, according to several ATCs who spoke to The Post.
“In ideal weather, with full staffing and with perfectly functioning technology, the FAA tells us that the airport can only handle 77 flights per hour,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a note to employees last week.
“And yet, the FAA regularly approves schedules of 80+ flights per hour almost every day between 3:00pm and 8pm.”
“This math doesn’t work,” Kirby added in the note. “Especially when there is weather, staffing issues or technology breakdowns — the airspace, taxiways, and runways get backed up and gridlock occurs.”
United Airlines operates 68% of Newark’s flights and after the communications failures the FAA proposed limiting the airport to no more than 56 total operations per hour.
Fully certified ATCs working in other areas cannot immediately transfer to Newark to fill-in because training for a different sector takes a minimum of 2.5 years “even if you’re an ATC with 20 years experience,” according to authorities.
One ATC whistleblower told The Post there is a solution to the drastic staffing shortages that have brought the airport to a standstill, caused endless flight delays and cancellations, and prompted widespread safety concerns.
“Pete Buttigieg and the union collaborated and moved the [Newark] sector from Long Island [in New York] to Philadelphia last summer in the name of ‘staffing concerns’,” he said.
“There were 33 controllers in the Newark sector when operations were based in Long Island. They now have less than 20 in their new facility in Philadelphia.
“The solution is to move it back to New York TRACON where all the equipment, telecoms infrastructure is in place and working.
“However the union does not want it to happen … the obvious solution and one that will save millions in taxpayer funds is to just move the sector back to New York.”
The FAA and airlines are meeting on Wednesday to discuss flight cuts at Newark.
The Trump Administration last week unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan to replace the nation’s ageing air traffic control system.
“They want to replace the antiquated telecom systems with new fibre, wireless and satellite technologies, replace more than 600 radars, which have gone way past their life cycle, and address runway safety.
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“They want to build six new air traffic control centres for the first time since the 1960s and replace towers as well,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“They want to implement new modern hardware and software for all traffic facilities to create a common platform system throughout the towers. These are much needed changes. This is a very bold plan by the Department of Transportation.”
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
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