United Airlines cuts 35 daily flights at Newark airport, citing shortage of air traffic controllers

NEW YORK AP Passengers with flights to or from Newark Liberty International Airport encountered long delays and cancellations Saturday due to an air traffic controller shortage a nationwide complication the Trump administration has pledged to fix The busy airport outside New York City experienced disruptions all week Faulting the Federal Aviation Administration s alleged failure to address long-simmering challenges related to the air-traffic control system United Airlines cut daily flights from its Newark schedule starting Saturday United CEO Scott Kirby explained the tool used to manage planes at the New Jersey airport failed more than once in up-to-date days The flight delays cancellations and diversions the equipment problems caused were compounded when more than one-fifth of Newark s traffic controllers walked off the job he announced This particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers it s now clear and the FAA tells us that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead Kirby wrote in a letter to customers Airport status reports from the FAA noted staffing issues were causing average delays of nearly two hours and ones as long as five hours for flights scheduled to arrive at Newark on Saturday morning Departures were delayed by an average of minutes and average delays of minutes for departures on Saturday morning according to the status reports By late afternoon arriving flights were running more than three hours behind schedule while the delay for departing flights had shortened to a half-hour on average The misery map maintained by flight tracking company FlightAware manifested the ripple effect on airports in Los Angeles Atlanta Chicago Miami Dallas and other cities United Airlines operates the majority of flights out of Newark by far and flights represents about of the round-trip domestic schedule operated by the carrier and its regional United Express organization according to information on the company s website Newark Liberty International Airport pointed to both staffing issues and construction when it warned travelers about delays on Thursday The Trump administration says it s been trying to supercharge the air traffic controller workforce and make moves to address the nation s shortage of controllers The U S transportation secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday reported a activity to recruit new controllers and give existing ones incentives not to retire The National Air Traffic Controllers Association a workers union disclosed at the time that those moves could help address staffing shortages but it also explained the system is long overdue for innovation and infrastructure upgrades Duffy disclosed on Friday that he visited with our hard working air traffic controllers as we work to fix these equipment outages caused by outdated machinery United s decision to pare back its flight schedule in Newark come at an already uncertain time for U S airlines Expected customers across the industry are reconsidering whether to fly for work or for vacation given all the unknowns about what President Donald Trump s contract war will do to the business activity Uncertainty is so high that United of late made the extraordinary move to offer two separate forecasts for how it could perform financially this year one if there were a recession and one if not From Newark United flies to U S cities and international destinations