Chaos erupts at Newark airport as air traffic controllers lose communication
- Air traffic controllers managing Newark Liberty International Airport lost radar and radio communication for nearly 90 seconds.
- The incident led to over 1,500 flight delays and hundreds of cancellations as staff shortages were exacerbated.
- Urgent reevaluation of the U.S. air traffic control system is needed to prevent future chaos in air travel.
In the United States, on April 28, 2025, air traffic controllers managing Newark Liberty International Airport experienced a significant communication failure, where they briefly lost radar and radio contact with the planes they were directing. This alarming incident resulted in major delays and cancellations, affecting thousands of passengers at one of New York's busiest airports. The abrupt communication outage lasted nearly 90 seconds, prompting multiple employees to take trauma leave subsequently, which compounded ongoing staffing issues at the facility. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that the incident stemmed from chronic understaffing and aging technological infrastructure at the air traffic control facility in Philadelphia that oversees Newark airport operations. Beyond the immediate technical failures, which forced the FAA to impose a halt on departures, it highlighted broader concerns regarding the condition of the U.S. air traffic control systems, deemed inadequate for the volume of air traffic managed, especially in congested airspace like that around Newark. In the days following the outage, United Airlines announced it would be canceling 35 round-trip flights daily from Newark due to the ongoing staffing shortages and substantial delays caused by the incident. The company's CEO, Scott Kirby, expressed frustration, noting that previous technology issues were worsened by over 20% of controllers being absent from work. Newark airport became the center of attention for air travel disruptions, with reports indicating more than 1,500 delays and hundreds of cancellations shortly after the incident. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy indicated that the FAA is aware of the systemic issues contributing to such failures and pledged to transform air traffic control infrastructure with an upgrade to a modernized system. He committed to addressing the staffing crunch and technology shortcomings that threaten to disrupt air travel safety further. The mounting delays, combined with previous infrastructure challenges, have prompted urgent calls for improvements to prevent similar occurrences in the future.