FAA fixing problems at Newark airport while planning overhaul of US air traffic control system

AP The Federal Aviation Administration commented Wednesday that it plans to upgrade the instrument used to get radar material to air traffic controllers directing planes to the troubled Newark New Jersey airport and improve staffing to alleviate problems that have caused hundreds of flights to be canceled there At the same time the agency plans pursue a broader multibillion-dollar plan that will be publicized Thursday for long-overdue upgrades to the nation s air traffic control system A January midair collision between a client jet and Army helicopter over Washington D C that killed people followed by a string of other crashes and mishaps raised alarms about aviation safety and prompted personnel to reexamine the system Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says flying remains the safest way to passage because of existing precautions but the problems in Newark demonstrate the desperate need for upgrades We are on it We are going to fix it We are going to build a brand new system for all of you and your families and the American people Duffy explained The radar system air traffic controllers in Philadelphia use to direct planes in and out of the Newark airport went offline for at least seconds on April That facility relies on radar statistics sent over lines from New York that may have failed Several of those lines are old copper phone lines instead of much more reliable fiber optic lines that can handle more statistics The reason the FAA is relying on those lines is because the agency moved the Newark controllers out of the New York facility to Philadelphia last summer to address staffing issues The FAA says it plans to replace any old copper wires with fiber optics and add three new records lines between its New York facility and Philadelphia The agency is also working to get additional controllers trained and certified It wasn t promptly clear how briskly either of those strategies will be completed but Duffy has revealed he hopes the situation in Newark will improve by summer Several controllers remain on extended trauma leave after the radar outage In the meantime the FAA has slowed traffic in and out of Newark to ensure flights can be handled safely leading to cancellations On Wednesday Newark led the nation in cancellations with canceled departures and canceled arrivals according to FlightAware com That s even after United Airlines cut flights a day from its schedule at the airport starting last weekend We ve slowed down the traffic Safety is our mission We love efficiency but safety is critical for us And so if we feel like there s issues in the airspace we ll slow it down Duffy declared We re looking at bringing in all of the airlines that serve Newark and having all of them with all of us have a conversation about how do we manage the flights out of Newark