FAA Says Flight Reductions at Newark Airport Will Remain Until June Amid Recent Outages

The aviation regulator said the targeted limits could be adjusted if there’s capacity to accommodate more flights without increasing flight delays.

United Airlines planes at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J., on May 9, 2025. David Delgado/Reuters

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated on May 20 that flight reductions at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey will remain in effect until June, following a series of equipment outages in recent weeks.

The FAA has issued an interim order limiting hourly arrivals and departures at Newark airport to 28 each—totaling 56 flights per hour—the same limits that were put in place after multiple air traffic controller equipment outages caused flight disruptions.

It stated that the flight cuts will continue until the daily runway construction ends on June 15, after which the hourly limit for landings and takeoffs will increase to 34 each until Oct. 25.

The FAA stated that the measures will help reduce over-scheduling, flight delays, and cancellations to “an acceptable level” at the airport, which has been grappling with staffing shortages, equipment outages, and runway construction.

The agency stated that the targeted limits could be adjusted “if it determines capacity exists to accommodate more flights without a significant increase in delays, or that further flight reductions are necessary.”

“Our goal is to relieve the substantial inconvenience to the traveling public from excessive flight delays due to construction, staffing challenges, and recent equipment issues, which magnify as they spread through the National Airspace System,” acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said in a statement announcing the order.

The FAA also took steps to upgrade the airport’s technology, including installing three new high-bandwidth telecommunications connections and replacing existing copper telecommunication lines with fiber-optic technology, which will provide greater bandwidth.

The agency stated that a temporary backup system will be deployed to the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) during the switch to the fiber-optic network. The FAA also stated that it will increase air traffic controller staffing.

The interim order was issued after the FAA held three days of one-on-one meetings with major airlines last week to discuss flight scheduling reductions.

Air carriers that participated in the talks included United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and Allegiant Air, according to the FAA.

FAA Investigating Recent Outage

Before the announcement, the FAA on May 19 reported the fourth incident of air traffic controller outage affecting Newark airport, when the Philadelphia TRACON lost radio frequencies for about two seconds at 11.35 a.m. local time.

All aircraft remained safely separated when the outage occurred, the agency said in a statement, noting that it was investigating the incident.

The FAA has slowed air traffic in and out of Newark after an initial outage on April 28, during which air traffic control briefly lost all contact with planes, prompting some controllers to take trauma leave. Two additional incidents involving air traffic equipment failures occurred at the airport on May 9 and May 11.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has previously blamed the former Biden administration for the air traffic controller equipment outages at Newark, saying the problems were a result of its decision last year to reassign control of the Newark-area airspace sector from the New York TRACON to the Philadelphia facility.

The relocation was intended to address staffing issues at the New York facility, but Duffy said it was dangerous because the Philadelphia TRACON has to be fed data from New York through old copper data lines, which were already vulnerable.

“There were issues in October and November under [former President Joe Biden] and [former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg] that would have highlighted to the prior administration that the underlying hardware would continue to cause problems,” Duffy said on May 12.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said on May 7 that Newark could handle only 77 flights per hour during peak periods, but airline schedules often exceed that number, citing information from the FAA.

“This math doesn’t work. Especially when there is weather, staffing issues or technology breakdowns—the airspace, taxiways, and runways get backed up and gridlock occurs,” Kirby said.

Jacob Burg and Reuters contributed to this report.