Watch Live: Newark Airport delays stretch into another week

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CBS News Live

The disruptions astatine Newark Liberty International Airport proceed with delays and cancellations, aft more than 500 flights were impacted Sunday.

As of 8:30 a.m. Monday, the airdrome reported 20 delays and 73 cancellations, and those numbers are expected to ascent implicit the people of the day.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said connected societal media implicit the play the issues are "completely and utterly unacceptable."

Some are opening to wonderment if the airdrome volition beryllium capable to grip the precocious measurement of flights successful the summertime months ahead.

"To accidental that determination is conscionable insignificant turbulence astatine Newark Airport and the FAA would beryllium the understatement of the year. We're present due to the fact that the FAA is truly a mess. This messiness needs a existent forensic look, a heavy look into it," Sen. Chuck Schumer said. "So contiguous I americium demanding a afloat inspector wide probe arsenic to what went on."

Schumer said helium wants the probe to encompass Newark and the full East Coast.

"The chaos astatine Newark precise good could beryllium a harbinger if issues similar these aren't fixed, and if the FAA can't get existent solutions disconnected the ground," Schumer added.

Schumer pointed to a nationwide aerial postulation controller shortage, cuts astatine the FAA owed to DOGE, aged exertion similar copper wires inactive being successful use, and depleting national funds.

"So each this is simply a larger informing that we person to heed," Schumer said.

What's going connected with Newark aerial postulation controllers?

The problems started a week ago but ramped up past Thursday owed to a shortage of aerial postulation controllers and instrumentality outages. Adding substance to the fire, 1 of the runways is nether construction, limiting however galore planes tin instrumentality disconnected and land.

Sunday evening, the airdrome reported 423 delays and 138 cancellations. Arriving flights were delayed up to 4 hours, portion departures were delayed much than 30 minutes.

A root acquainted with the concern told CBS News that 20% of unit astatine the aerial postulation power halfway successful Philadelphia, which oversees the airspace successful Newark, walked disconnected the occupation successful vexation precocious past week.

United Airlines is now cutting 35 roundtrip flights a time astatine Newark due to the fact that of the disruptions, and the Federal Aviation Administration instituted a "flow constrained area," thing typically seen successful Florida owed to dense summertime postulation oregon storms.

Newark is 1 of 3 large airports serving the New York City area, and the delays are having a ripple effect successful Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Dallas and different cities, according to the formation tracking company FlightAware.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said helium volition merchandise the details of a caller program to revamp the decades-old aerial postulation power system this week.

"I cognize [U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy] is committed to addressing our nationwide aerial postulation controller shortage by supercharging hiring," Murphy wrote successful his societal media post. "The past fewer days person shown america precisely wherefore we request to reverse the decades of staffing diminution astatine the FAA."

More than 90% of country's airdrome towers are staffed beneath FAA standards, according to a CBS News investigation earlier this year.

Elijah Westbrook