Newark Air Traffic Controllers Raise Alarms Over System Reliability Issues in 2023

As reported by The New York Times, air traffic controllers at Newark Airport have faced ongoing challenges with equipment failures dating back to 2023. the examination revealed a series of technical issues, including radio communication breakdowns and other malfunctions that have raised serious concerns.

Between January 1 and June 1 of this year, the air traffic control facility in Philadelphia experienced over 300 unexpected equipment failures. In one bizarre incident,controllers on a night shift saw phantom aircraft appearing on their radar screens in early 2025.Additionally, crucial automated alerts meant to warn about risky weather conditions ceased functioning entirely. A controller even expressed alarm in an email back in 2023 about the increasing unreliability of the airport’s communication systems.

The situation escalated after an outage on April 28 when computer screens for air traffic controllers went dark for nearly a minute and a half, disrupting communications with pilots and forcing numerous planes to circle above newark.This prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to temporarily suspend all departures from the airport. Following this incident, three more outages occurred within just three weeks while several controllers were on trauma leave due to stress from the april event. A CNN report highlighted that controllers had been sounding alarms about safety risks for months prior; one even compared their daily operations to “playing Russian roulette.”

In an effort to cut costs during the early 2000s, the FAA moved many Newark-based air traffic controllers from Long Island, New York, to Philadelphia. However, since most of these professionals preferred not relocating far from home—especially given that they now operate from a tower located over 100 miles away—the staffing levels at Newark have remained critically low.

In response to these ongoing issues, U.S.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced plans in early May aimed at modernizing outdated air traffic control systems across the nation—this comes after notable cuts made during previous administrations led to hundreds of controller layoffs across various departments. By June, measures were implemented by the FAA limiting flight arrivals and departures at Newark as part of efforts designed to ease pressure on overwhelmed staff and reduce delays.