By Doyinsola Oladipo and Rajesh Kumar Singh
NEWARK (Reuters) – Travelers flying in and out of New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport were increasingly edgy about a host of recent problems at the busy airport, but they were most alarmed about two separate equipment outages in the last two weeks that disrupted communications between air traffic controllers and pilots.
The airport is one of the busiest in the United States, last year handling nearly 49 million passengers out of the New York metro area, the most populous in the country. Runway construction and air traffic control staffing shortages have caused cancellations and delays to spike in recent days.
But the disruptions to communications between pilots and air traffic control left travelers shaken, with some questioning if flying out of the airport is safe. On Friday at around 4 a.m. EST (0800 GMT), a facility that guides air traffic in and out of the airport suffered a 90-second communications outage, following an April 28 incident that also lasted about 90 seconds.
“It’s a little concerning that this is the second outage in under 30 days,” said Mikhail Liverpool, 37, from Somerset County, New Jersey, who said his flight to Georgia was delayed for four hours. “The fact that they didn’t remediate the problem the first time is, you know, worrisome to say the least.”
Newark was the preferred airport for Mark Nelson, a systems engineer at Siemens Healthineers, who travels for work and personal reasons. But after the two incidents, Nelson said he has decided to avoid it.
“If the FAA or someone tells you it is safe to fly from Newark, do not believe them,” said Nelson.
The airport was already considered a headache for travelers. Last year, JD Power ranked it the lowest in terms of overall customer satisfaction among mega airports in North America.
The disruptions have become more acute. Since May 1, flight cancellations have surged to an average of 49 flights per day, up from 4 flights a day in early April, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. On-time departures dropped to 63%, well below industry norms of about 80%.
Allison Miles, 34, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, said she now plans on avoiding Newark after her flight from Houston was delayed by more than 8 hours. “I’ll probably stay home for a lot this year, because until they can figure this out, I’m not going to get out there,” she said.
The Federal Aviation Administration plans to meet with major airlines on Wednesday, including United Airlines, the largest operator at Newark, about temporary cuts in flights at the airport. United has culled about 10% of its daily Newark flights and waived change fees and fare differences for customers affected by the disruptions.
The FAA last year relocated control of the Newark airspace to Philadelphia to address staffing and congested New York area traffic.
United CEO Scott Kirby has blamed the airport’s stretched infrastructure for the delays. He wants U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to designate Newark as a slot-controlled airport, which would allow the FAA to limit the number of departing or arriving flights to prevent delays.
Duffy wants Congress to allocate billions to upgrade the aging U.S. air traffic control system, but any overhaul would take years. In the interim, some travelers said they’ll shift airports.
“Every other week I’m traveling, and the only issues I have is traveling here,” said John Clark, 50, from Greenville, South Carolina, and a regular United flyer. Moving forward, he is looking to fly out of LaGuardia Airport in Queens, even if it lengthens his commute to his New Jersey office. “I’ll try LaGuardia again for a little while until that becomes a pain point.”
(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in Newark, New Jersey, and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; additional reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle and David Shepardson in Washington; editing by David Gaffen and Diane Craft)
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