(Bloomberg) – Airline and American Airlines officials plan further flight cuts at Newark Airport after multiple crashes, according to people familiar with the matter.
The plans currently under consideration will encourage carriers to voluntarily reduce the number of flights at a limited period of transportation centers outside New York City. One of the people said the Ministry of Transport is expected to schedule discussions with airline leaders in the coming weeks.
The urgency of the meeting was highlighted in a second incident on Friday, in which air traffic controllers briefly lost communications and radar displays while guiding aircraft inside and outside Newark Liberty International Airport. It followed a similar crash on April 28. No injuries or accidents were caused.
One of the goals of the plan’s discussions is to reduce day-to-day operations to a specific speed that Philadelphia’s air traffic control facilities can handle, and air traffic controllers are plagued by shortages and outdated technology for air traffic controllers, one of the people said.
The reduction in Newark flights will resolve major complaints from United Airlines Holdings Inc. CEO Scott Kirby accused the Federal Aviation Administration of allowing aircraft traffic beyond the airport to be reliably supported. In a memorandum this week, he called on authorities to limit 48 per hour in runway construction, while 77 per hour during normal operation, below levels and sometimes over 80.
The collapse on Friday occurred at the FAA facility about 3:55 and lasted about 90 seconds, the agency said in a statement. According to the recording of the communication, air traffic controllers reminded a FedEx aircraft that “the range has just turned black.”
The busy hub caused several days of disruption, ruining hundreds of flights, prompting United to start cutting 35 daily round trips at the airport, the biggest daily trip internationally deviated, the busy hundreds of flights and prompting United to start reducing 35 daily round trips, the busy daily trip internationally.
United, which accounts for most of the airport’s flights, has voluntarily operated in Newark, and at least three times before its daily flights are now one-third less than one-third before the pandemic. According to airline data provider Cirium, the airline still accounts for 68% of departures.
In addition to Manchester United, other airlines serving Newark include Delta Air Lines, Spirit Airlines Holdings and American Airlines Group.
The FAA said Wednesday it will install temporary backup systems at Philadelphia facilities for redundancy while accelerating work to upgrade the communications infrastructure on site, including replacing older copper wires with fiber optic wires. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Thursday a detailed plan to upgrade the nation’s air traffic control system over the next three to four years.
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