What Travelers Should Know About Newark Airport’s Major Delays Amid Massive FAA Staffing Shortage—’It Is Not Safe’

If you’re flying through Newark International Airport (EWR), prepare yourself for potential delays and rescheduled flights. 

The New Jersey airport, which serves the broader New York City area, has been plagued by hundreds of flight delays and cancellations for the last week—and the woes continue. More than 20 percent of Federal Aviation Administration controllers have walked off the job, leading to delays and flight cancellations, as EWR is unequipped to handle the volume of usual flights with such staffing shortages. The problems have persisted, with air traffic control outages and thunderstorms over the weekend also contributing to the chaos at the airport. 

In addition, construction on the runways has left EWR operating with only one functional runway, further adding to the delays and cancelled flights. 

The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics ranked Newark International Airport the 14th busiest airport in the U.S. in 2024.

United Airlines, which has a hub at Newark, announced on May 2 that it would cancel 35 daily round-trip flights—representing about 10 percent of the flights operated by United out of EWR—due to the delays in order to protect their customers.

“It’s disappointing to make further cuts to an already reduced schedule at Newark, but since there is no way to resolve the near-term structural FAA staffing issues, we feel like there is no other choice in order to protect our customers,” United CEO Scott Kirby wrote in a letter on the United website. “United has been urging the US government for *years* to use its authority to effectively limit the number of flights to what the airport can realistically handle. Past failure to make those changes had led to the circumstances that United and, most importantly, our customers now face.”

Travelers who already have plans to travel in and out of EWR should check for travel alerts both from the airport website and also through their airline. No matter what the advisories say, passengers should prepare themselves for potential delays and cancellations as the issue continues this week. 

Travelers should consider shuffling their flights to neighboring airports, as a federal air safety employee told MSNBC correspondent Tom Costello that safety is a concern. “It is not safe. It is not a safe situation right now for the flying public,” they reportedly said. Costello added: “Really an incredible statement, unsolicited. He just said that to me, and separately: ‘Don’t fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs.’”

Travel + Leisure‘s request for comment from the FAA was not returned at the time of publish.

“NATCA, the air traffic controllers’ union, has warned for decades that infrastructure must be rebuilt and modernized,” Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), said in a statement obtained by T+L. “We call on all airlines operating out of Newark to cut planned flights at an equal percentage across airlines in order to support this work, aviation safety, and our jobs. Working together we can solve the problem faster and keep everyone safe.”