Newark Liberty International Airport experienced significant disruptions with nearly 80 flight cancellations and over 40 delays due to yet another equipment outage causing chaos at the NYC-area hub.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a 45-minute ground stop on Sunday morning following the outage at Newark’s air traffic control facility, as reported by officials to WABC.
This incident comes after a radar malfunction on Friday morning briefly brought operations at Newark to a standstill.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy mentioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the number of flights in and out of Newark Airport will be reduced for the next few weeks due to the travel chaos caused by a shortage of air traffic controllers.
“We want to ensure that if you book a flight, it will fly as scheduled,” Duffy emphasized.
A meeting is expected to be arranged this week with all airlines operating at Newark Liberty International Airport to decide on the flight reduction plan, with United Airlines handling 75% of the air traffic at the New Jersey hub.