Flight operations at Newark Liberty International Airport were briefly disrupted on Sunday morning due to a telecommunication failure at a nearby air traffic control center. This marks another incident in a series of outages that have affected one of the busiest airports in the United States. At the same time, a separate issue with runway equipment caused delays and a ground stop at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
At Newark, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that the telecommunications failure occurred at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, a facility responsible for managing aircraft in and out of Newark’s airspace. In response, the FAA implemented a temporary ground stop, halting flights bound for Newark from taking off at other airports.
“There was a telecommunications issue at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which manages aircraft around Newark Liberty International Airport,” the FAA said in a statement provided to CNN. “The FAA briefly slowed aircraft in and out of the airport while we ensured that backup systems were functioning properly.”
The ground stop lasted approximately 45 minutes, according to FAA air traffic advisories. While flight operations resumed shortly afterward, the incident led to a significant number of delays and cancellations. By 11:00 a.m. Sunday, FlightAware, a flight tracking service, reported 67 delays and 79 cancellations related to Newark. However, no inbound flights were diverted during the disruption.
This outage adds to a recent pattern of technical problems at the Philadelphia-based TRACON facility. Just two days earlier, on Friday morning, a brief radar and radio disruption occurred for about 90 seconds. A more serious incident on April 28 caused over 1,000 flight cancellations, after five air traffic controllers at the facility were put on trauma leave.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy reassured travelers that Newark Airport remains safe for flying. He also indicated that flight capacity at the airport would be temporarily reduced while the issue is addressed. In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Duffy acknowledged that the air traffic control system is aging and requires upgrades. However, he expressed confidence that the current problem would be resolved soon.
“We’re going to reduce capacity at Newark over the next several weeks while we resolve this issue,” Duffy said. “I’m meeting with the airlines that serve Newark to discuss how they will manage this reduced capacity.”
He also noted that a new direct connection from Newark to Philadelphia TRACON, which controls airspace over New York, is expected to be completed by the end of the summer.
Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the busiest airport in the U.S., experienced delays and a ground stop due to “runway equipment issues.” The FAA confirmed that technicians were working to fix the problem, which caused delays for almost all inbound flights starting around 10:30 a.m.
“An equipment outage at ATL’s Air Traffic Control Tower is causing delays for both inbound and outbound flights,” an FAA spokesperson stated. “We encourage passengers to contact their airlines for updates on their individual flights and to check ATL.com for more information.”
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