Key Takeaways
- Airline executives, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, and officials from the FAA are meeting Wednesday to discuss how to address issues facing New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport.
- Newark has been hit with massive flight delays and cancellations caused by a shortage of air traffic controllers and a runway construction project.
- Duffy has outlined a plan to modernize the air traffic control system and hire more air traffic controllers.
Executives from several major U.S. airlines are meeting with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Wednesday to discuss ways to deal with massive flight cancellations and delays at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The airport has been plagued by a shortage of air traffic controllers and a runway construction project that has prevented planes from leaving on time or flying at all.
Today’s “scheduling reduction meeting” will consider how to “reduce overscheduling and flight delays during peak hours of operation at that airport.”
Earlier this month, Duffy announced the government’s plans to build a “state-of-the-art air traffic control system” and boost the size of the air traffic controller workforce to address problems like those affecting Newark.
A frustrated Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines (UAL), which has a major hub at the airport, wrote to customers earlier this month that the carrier was “unilaterally cancelling 35 roundtrip flights per day from our Newark schedule” amid ongoing issues there.
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