The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed Friday that there was another air traffic control outage this morning affecting Newark Liberty International Airport.
The development comes after the FAA issued a ground stop at the airport, due to construction, that was in effect until 11:15 a.m. ET.
The Federal Aviation Administration said “There was a telecommunications outage that impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport airspace.
“The outage occurred around 3:55 a.m. on Friday, May 9, and lasted approximately 90 seconds,” it added.
Last week, air traffic controllers at the FAA facility in Philadelphia lost radar and radio signals while directing planes to Newark for nearly 90 seconds as well, causing significant delays and flight cancellations that remain ongoing.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., called the latest reported outage “big news.”
“My understanding is there was yet another outage in the last hours, another 90 second outage of radar and radio in the region. That’s the second time in a matter of days,” he told reporters at Newark airport on Friday.
“Travelers have had it with the delays. I’ve heard from a lot of them. They’re calling me, they’re talking to me. You see them posting about the delays, about the cancellations,” Gottheimer added. “This airport is a key hub for our economy in the region. Twenty percent of America’s GDP runs through this region.”
“But what they are frustrated about and angry about and concerned about is because right now, the airport simply lacks the FAA tower staffing levels, modern technology and infrastructure that we need to make sure that this airspace, the busiest airspace in the world, runs efficiently, smoothly and safely, 24/7,” he continued. “You add that to the ongoing runway construction here at Newark, which was planned, and you can see why things overall are a mess at this airport and why things are jammed up and why those delays are occurring every day right now, and cancellations occurring every day.”
Gottheimer said “”We must immediately move more air traffic controllers from other parts of the country to this short-staffed region” and “We should pay these air traffic controllers whatever it takes to get them there — the bonuses, the overtime.”
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby told customers in a note on Friday that last week’s technology failure resulted in “dozens of diverted flights, hundreds of delayed and canceled flights and, worst of all, thousands of customers with disrupted travel plans.”
To try and minimize the impact that this will have on customers, Kirby said the carrier is unilaterally canceling 35 round-trip flights per day from its Newark schedule, which has already been reduced.
“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,” Kirby added.
American Airlines said that its customers have also been impacted.
“The challenges in Newark have led to delays and disruptions for airlines and their customers – including American – and demonstrate the urgent need to staff up and modernize our air traffic control system,” the carrier said in a statement to FOX Business.
FOX Business’ Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.
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