US officials said the over-stretched airport in Newark, one of three serving New York metropolitan areas, suffered a new 90-second outage early on Friday.
The delays and flight cancellations followed the incident at Newar Liberty International Airport on April 28th. The incident caused traffic controllers stationed in nearby Philadelphia to be unable to communicate with the plane.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the latest incident included “a telecommunications outage affecting communications and radar displays from the same Philadelphia Department of Traffic Control that guides aircraft in and out of Newark's airspace.
The suspension occurred around 3:55am (07:55 GMT) on Friday, and “lasted around 90 seconds,” a short statement said.
Following the initial incident, the FAA said Wednesday it was slowing its arrival and departure in Newark, one of the busiest airports in the United States.
In a statement Wednesday, the FAA said it was adding new communication capacity, replacing copper connections with updated materials, and deploying backup equipment.
He also cited the construction of the runway as a cause of the slowdown.
The trouble in Newark follows a January 29 air collision near Washington's Reagan National Airport, which includes passenger jets and military helicopters, the first major US commercial accident since 2009.
White House press director Karoline Leavitt described Friday's incident as “glitch” caused by the same communications and software issues raised last week, adding that FAA and Transportation Department staff are setting up new communications connections.
“The goal is to do the whole task by the end of summer,” she said.
Leavitt praised Transport Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday for unveiling a drastic plan to modernize the country's air traffic control system.
“These are much needed changes. This is a very bold plan by the Department of Transport,” Leavitt said.
“I think it's a shame that the previous administrations sat in their hands and did nothing,” Leavitt said, referring to the Biden administration.
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, a Democratic leader in the Legislative Council Room, called the Newark issue “a air travel safety emergency that requires immediate and decisive action and requires air travel safety rather than a major unpaid overhaul promise that would take years to launch a statement.”
“A backup system that is not working needs to be fixed. Now,” Schumer said.
Schumer has questioned the impact of FAA's job cuts on Newark operations that took place during Elon Musk's tenure as informal head of government efficiency. In a statement earlier this week, Schumer said the incident was evidence that the Trump administration did not “reach the challenge of keeping people safe.”
ARP-JMB/SLA
