Key Takeaways
- Federal officials put a cap on flights in and out of New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport in an effort to ease major flight delays and cancellations that have plagued the airport for weeks.
- The new rules limit the total of departing and arriving flights to 56 an hour, while runway construction is underway. That increases to 68 an hour once the work is done.
- United Airlines, which has a major hub at Newark Liberty, already cancelled several daily flights earlier this month.
After weeks of massive flight delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport caused by runway construction, air traffic controller shortages, and equipment failures, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced a plan aimed at easing the congestion there.
Officials are reducing the total number of outbound and inbound flights during the runway project to 56 an hour (28 in and out). Once the work is completed, now scheduled for June 15, that number increases to 68 an hour (34 in and out).
“For context, before this whole mess in recent weeks, Newark saw 80 or more hourly takeoffs and landings over some peak periods,” writes aviation analyst Ben Schlappig of One Mile at a Time. “So these cuts are pretty drastic.”
Aim Was to ‘Relieve the Substantial Inconvenience to the Traveling Public’
Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said the goal was to “relieve the substantial inconvenience to the traveling public” caused by the issues, “which magnify as they spread through the National Airspace System.”
The FAA noted that the plan was discussed with executives from the airlines in a meeting last week.
One of the carriers most impacted is United Airlines (UAL), which uses Newark Liberty as a major hub. At the beginning of the month, CEO Scott Kirby wrote to customers, advising them that the airline would be unilaterally canceling 35 flights a day. He also called on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the FAA to designate Newark Liberty as a so-called “slot controlled” airport.
UPDATE—This article has been updated with a quote from aviation analyst Ben Schlappig of One Mile at a Time.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-2214629674-0bf8ea3cef1c4ca79975a2aecfeb9f74.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1&description=FAA+Limiting+Flights+at+Newark+Airport+to+Ease+Massive+Congestion){kind=link}