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What's down the aerial postulation controller shortage astatine Newark airport?
Newark Airport is facing a ninth of delays and cancellations, arsenic an aerial postulation controller shortage continues and rain adds to the issues. By 7 a.m. Tuesday, determination were astatine slightest 56 delays and astir 100 cancellations, aft hundreds of flights were impacted Monday.
The national representing aerial postulation controllers said aggregate members are connected trauma permission aft an instrumentality nonaccomplishment caused them to suffer connection with pilots past week.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is expected to denote the details of a program to overhaul the nation's aging aerial postulation power strategy connected Thursday.
"We are going to radically alteration the mode aerial postulation power looks. We're going to physique a marque caller aerial postulation power strategy -- from caller telecoms, to caller radars, to caller infrastructure. We're bringing connected caller aerial postulation controllers," Duffy said successful an interrogation Monday night. "This has been a occupation successful the decades coming, and we're going to hole it."
In the meantime, the Federal Aviation Administration is slowing the complaint of arrivals to Newark to guarantee information portion the staffing and instrumentality issues continue.
Why is Newark Airport having delays?
Questions stay astir why determination has been a shortage of aerial postulation controllers astatine the Philadelphia halfway that oversees airspace successful Newark, New Jersey.
The national said Monday that an instrumentality contented caused controllers to temporarily suffer radar and connection with planes past week. At 1 point, controllers were incapable to see, perceive oregon speech with pilots for astir 90 seconds, the national said.
Duffy, however, said the outage lasted lone 30 seconds.
About fractional a twelve controllers requested trauma permission pursuing the incident, allowing them to fundamentally beryllium disconnected the occupation for up to 45 days.
"The controllers did not 'walk disconnected the job' arsenic it has been reported by the media," the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said successful a statement. "Due to the event, the controllers took lack nether the Federal Employees Compensation Act. This programme covers each national employees that are physically injured oregon acquisition a traumatic lawsuit connected the job."
FAA responds to Newark airdrome delays
The FAA besides issued a connection connected the matter, saying the antiquated strategy is taking a toll connected the workforce.
"Frequent instrumentality and telecommunications outages tin beryllium stressful for controllers. Some controllers astatine the Philadelphia TRACON who enactment Newark arrivals and departures person taken clip disconnected to retrieve from the accent of aggregate caller outages," the connection read. "While we cannot rapidly regenerate them owed to this highly specialized profession, we proceed to bid controllers who volition yet beryllium assigned to this engaged airspace."
Both the national and the FAA said they enactment efforts to modernize the system.
"We indispensable get the champion information exertion successful the hands of controllers arsenic soon arsenic possible," the FAA wrote. "We are moving to guarantee the existent telecommunications instrumentality is much reliable successful the New York country by establishing a much resilient and redundant configuration with the section speech carriers."
The staffing issues are expected to past for astatine slightest a fewer much days. Experts accidental Newark's airspace requires peculiar certification, truthful you can't simply reassign controllers from different locations.
Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Schumer is demanding an probe from the Department of Transportation's inspector general, and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy sent a missive to Duffy asking for support.
Elijah Westbrook is an Emmy award-winning journalist. He joined CBS News New York successful January 2022.
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