Operations at United Airlines' large hub at Newar Liberty International Airport are stable amid the rapid reduction in daily air traffic required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
On May 20, the FAA limited the number of flights in Newark after finding “sustainable overcapacity” at the busy New Jersey airport, central to widespread concerns about US air traffic control (ATC) coverage and flight safety.
Recent communications and radar outages reported by the FAA's Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control Site, which manages air traffic in Newark, have forced the controller to operate in the dark in a short period of time.
Similar outages have been reported elsewhere in the US. This relies on creaking technology from decades ago to oversee the airspace of an increasingly complex country.
Earlier this month, U.S. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled plans to overhaul the country's ATC system, which has received widespread support from the aviation industry.
In thousands of late cancelled flights in Newark earlier this month, United urged the FAA to implement slot controls to reduce delays there. A 44-hour flight cap was required in Newark, and once the ongoing runway construction was completed, up to 77 hourly flights had to be built.
The FAA has since cut daily flights in Newark by about 30%, United says. This is “good news for customers” in a May 22 update from John Gooda, president of Newark's airport business.
“A few weeks ago, we actively cut about 35 United flights from our schedule,” Gooda said. “This has helped ease the crowding caused by both the continuous runway construction (Newark) and the lack of staffing in air traffic control.
Gooda said that since cutting Newark Flights from its schedule in early May, the airport has returned to exceeding its on-time arrival rate at Laguardia Airport, and has “closed the gap” at John F Kennedy International Airport.
However, United's summer schedule in Newark has been reduced compared to last year, with daily flights significantly lower than what his carrier had previously expected at the peak of summer air travel.
Despite advocating slot cuts earlier, United denounced the FAA's cuts in schedules.
“With the recent FAA decision, all airline schedules at EWR will be smaller than last year, including us, and smaller than last year,” Gooda said.
The construction of the runway in Newark is expected to be completed by the mid-term Next. United plans to build a schedule “slowly and safely” from that point on, Good said.
United boasts that they have been ranked ever among US airlines in their May time term despite their challenges in Newark.
Flight tracking platform FlightAware has shown that Newark Airport has an average delay of around 20 meters on its inbound flight on May 23.
