Air traffic out-of-control

Newark ATC problems are both systemic and unique

The FAA’s problems with air traffic control in Newark have captured national attention and stoked flying fears even further, building on concerns after several high-profile accidents and incidents earlier this year. Newark’s problems culminated in several radar and communications outages over the past few months. As with many problems, the Newark ATC conundrum is comprised of multiple parts and won’t be resolved quickly.

At its core, Newark’s problem is one of limited airspace for an increasing number of airplanes. The FAA has minimum separation standards for aircraft, but the optimal numbers are reduced by both bad weather and equipment outages. When things start going wrong, ATC implements increased separation for aircraft or holds them on the ground prior to departure to create more space.

NOT NEWARK: I recently took this picture outside Chicago Midway airport. It’s not Newark, but it’s still pretty cool. (David Thornton)

On a recent trip to Teterboro, New Jersey, we were subjected to a ground stop that was projected to delay our departure for two hours. The reason given was short staffing in the Newark sector. Teterboro is a busy general aviation hub that is so close to Newark that the approaches and departures are interlaced. Newark arrivals landing south go right over the top of Teterboro. Since we were flexible and the delay did not impact the entire New York area, we shifted our flight to White Plains on the north side of the metro area and departed on schedule. (For a Southern boy, the audible distinction between “Newark” and “New York” is subtle. I’d be interested to hear how the two sound when locals say them.)

Before we delve into Newark’s issues, let’s talk about ATC in general. The modern air traffic control system traces its roots to a 1978 accident in which a single-engine Cessna 172 collided with a Boeing 727 over San Diego, killing 144 people. Following this accident, the FAA beefed up the nation’s air traffic system with several different levels of controlled airspace. Thirty-seven busy metropolitan airports are surrounded by heavily restricted Class B airspace, while smaller city airports are protected by Class C airspace, which is still regulated but more navigable and welcoming to smaller private aircraft. Class B and C airspace includes a TRACON, a terminal radar approach control, which provides ATC and radar services for aircraft. (Class A airspace is above 18,000 feet.)

Even smaller and less busy airports can have Class D airspace, which includes a control tower but no TRACON. The majority of airports in the US are nontowered airports where traffic follows guidelines to self-regulate and sequence for takeoff and landing.

Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) fill the radar gaps between TRACONs for en route aircraft. These centers can also provide radar services and sequencing for aircraft on instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plans to Class D and nontowered airports. There are 20 ARTCCs in the United States.

Newark Liberty Airport (KEWR) is one of the primary airports in the New York Class B airspace. The airspace around New York City is some of the most congested and complex in the world, comprising not only three major air carrier airports but numerous general aviation and mixed-use airports as well. The airspace around NYC mixes everything from heavy jumbo jets to military aircraft to corporate jets to helicopters to single-engine private planes to seaplanes operating on the Hudson River.

It is this mix of aircraft that New York Approach is expected to control. The Verge reports that New York controllers handle more than 6,000 flights per day. Newark TRACON works an average of 3,400 flights per day, up from 2,200 in 1980. Controllers here have a high workload and a stressful job.

The situation at Newark is made worse by recent changes. ARTCCs and TRACONs are not always located on-site, and that is the case with Newark. In 1978, Newark Approach was consolidated with other New York TRACONs in a single facility on Long Island. CNN reports that much of Newark’s problem can be traced to a first-term Trump decision to move the control of Newark and several other New Jersey airports (Teterboro, Morristown, Caldwell, and Linden) to the Philadelphia TRACON in an attempt to alleviate delays and understaffing at the New York TRACON. That move was completed in July 2024 despite opposition by New York’s congressional delegation, and the plan seems to have backfired.

The downside to the move was that the Newark controllers did not want to leave Long Island for Philly. Going back to The Verge’s reporting, ATC salaries were subpar for the New York area and had not kept pace with inflation. Even with relocation bonuses of up to $100,000, only 17 of the 33 original controllers agreed to the move. Another seven were temporarily reassigned, but the 24 controllers assigned to the Newark airspace were far short of the target staffing of 63. That meant forced overtime and more stressful working conditions.

To make matters worse, the FAA skimped on the technology when it moved control of Newark. Rather than providing an independent server for the Philadelphia TRACON, it elected to “mirror” data from the Long Island facility via 130 miles of copper telecommunications cables in a cost-saving move. It seems likely that this system was to blame for some of Newark’s outages.

The FAA hardware is shaky as well. The last ATC upgrade dates back to about 2007, and the DOGE buzzsaw cut many of the maintenance specialists who kept the antiquated systems up and running (although it spared air traffic controllers). It seems more than just a coincidence that outages started to plague Newark shortly after the cuts.

The equipment problems have compounded the ATC labor shortage as controllers take medical leave after the trauma of radar and communications outages. Most of us will never know the pressure of having hundreds of lives in your hands as you try to keep aircraft separated without being able to see or talk to them. Near misses can happen on good days. When vital equipment breaks down, the danger meter pegs.

The current Trump Administration has advocated a complete overhaul of the air traffic control system over four years at a cost of untold billions. That money has to be approved by Congress, but Trump has not proven adept at building coalitions to pass legislation. His “Big Beautiful Bill” reportedly includes $12.5 billion for ATC modernization, but the bill’s future is not assured and that money would only be a down payment. It does not help that Trump and DOGE have poisoned the well at both Congress and the FAA.

“One day, we’re going [to] be required to fire 20 percent of everybody,” one FAA manager told the Washington Post anonymously. “And the next day, [DOT Secretary] Sean Duffy says we’re going to have a huge injection of tens of billions of dollars. It’s just weird.”

The FAA is also attempting to hire new controllers, but this is also a long-term solution. The FAA’s ATC academy takes several months to complete, but newly minted controllers cannot be tossed into the Northeast Corridor airspace immediately. Classroom and simulator training are followed by several years of supervised on-the-job training before controllers are fully certified and checked out on their airspace.

One potential reform is privatizing ATC. First-term Trump proposed such an overhaul, and the idea has been proposed periodically in the past. Privatization on the order of making ATC a separate semi-private corporation or public utility has both proponents and opponents on both sides of the aisle. The airlines typically favor the idea, but unions and private flyers oppose it. Adding ATC costs to the already expensive prospect of learning to fly could make the pilot shortage even more acute, among other problems. Air traffic control is currently funded by an airline ticket tax and a general aviation fuel tax. That is unlikely to change in the near term.

Passengers and airlines won’t want to hear it, but the best practical solution in the near term is to simply reduce the number of flights going into congested areas. The FAA has already announced reductions in the number of flights in and out of Newark for the next several months.

As with many of the problems that we face in America, the problems with Newark airport and the FAA in general did not arise overnight, and they also won’t be solved quickly.

At least Transportation Secretary Duffy seems to understand that Newark is a bellwether, and that the government needs to get a handle on the problems before they spread throughout the ATC system.

“If we don’t actually accomplish the mission that we are announcing today, you will see Newarks not just in Newark, you will see Newarks in other parts of the country,” Duffy told the Washington Post.

One thing we can all agree on is that one Newark is enough.

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