The Federal Aviation Administration announced plans Wednesday to update technology and other functions at
Newark
Liberty International Airport
,
which has faced postponements throughout the entire week.
Why it matters:
A perfect storm of technology failures and the nationwide shortage of
air traffic controllers
caused hours-long ground delays at the airport, forcing United to cancel dozens of daily flights into the hub.
- “When staffing or equipment issues occur, the FAA will ensure safety by slowing the rate of arrivals into the airport,” the FAA said.
State of play:
STARS, an FAA system that processes radar data for Newark is based in New York. This data is fed to the Philadelphia TRACON, where controllers handle Newark arrivals and departures. Updates to both systems include:
- Increasing controller staffing.
- Adding three new high-bandwidth telecommunications connections between New York and Philadelphia for more speed, reliability and redundancy.
- Substituting copper telecommunication lines with advanced fiber-optic technology.
- Deploying a temporary backup system to Philadelphia that will provide redundancy during the transition to the new network.
- Establishing a STARS hub in Philadelphia so that it doesn’t rely on the New York feed.
Catch up quick:
Multiple elements led to more than seven days of postponements and cancellations at Newark, encompassing adverse weather conditions and a lack of available air traffic controllers.
- On April 28, controllers in Philadelphia responsible for coordinating Newark’s operations, “temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under control.”
- On Friday, United Airlines announced that it would eliminate 35 daily round-trip flights from its schedule at Newark Airport.
Our thought bubble,
from Axios’ Alex Fitzpatrick
:
It remains uncertain why the Federal Aviation Administration under the Biden administration did not introduce any of these safeguards prior to transferring the management of Newark airspace from a center in Long Island to one in Philadelphia, as this could potentially have avoided much of the recent turmoil.
What we’re watching:
On May 2, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made an announcement regarding transportation matters.
plan
to construct a new aviation navigation system.
- He stated that by taking this action, we’ll ensure our airspace isn’t merely safer, but significantly more efficient as well.
Go deeper:
Newark’s perfect storm: What’s causing long delays at the airport?
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