The disruptions at Newark Liberty International Airport continue with delays and cancellations, after more than 500 flights were impacted Sunday.
As of 8:30 a.m. Monday, the airport reported 20 delays and 73 cancellations, and those numbers are expected to climb over the course of the day.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on social media over the weekend the issues are “completely and utterly unacceptable.”
Some are beginning to wonder if the airport will be able to handle the high volume of flights in the summer months ahead.
“The FAA is really a mess,” Schumer says
“To say that there is just minor turbulence at Newark Airport and the FAA would be the understatement of the year. We’re here because the FAA is really a mess. This mess needs a real forensic look, a deep look into it,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said. “So today I am demanding a full inspector general investigation as to what went on.”
Schumer said he wants the investigation to encompass Newark and the entire East Coast.
“The chaos at Newark very well could be a harbinger if issues like these aren’t fixed, and if the FAA can’t get real solutions off the ground,” Schumer added.
Schumer pointed to a nationwide air traffic controller shortage, cuts at the FAA due to the Department of Government Efficiency, old technology like copper wires still being in use, and depleted federal funds.
“So all this is a larger warning that we have to heed,” Schumer said. “Air traffic controllers have long warned the FAA that there are problems here, but the FAA waited. There was chaos, there were cuts. And so that’s why the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Transportation must comb the FAA’s administrative, operational and capital functions right away.”
Schumer said there are several questions that need to be answered, including one about a recent bonus offered to other air traffic controllers to stay on the job.
“Because they knew there were shortages, they offered a $10,000 bonus to 13 different air traffic control towers, but not to Washington, Philadelphia or New York. Why? Since we’re the ones with the greatest need, it makes no sense. These are the places where the shortage creates real problems,” Schumer said.
Schumer also said recent DOGE cuts to the FAA should also be examined. The plan to replace old equipment like copper wires and floppy discs also needs to be scrutinized, along with the need to fill critical leadership vacancies.
“Newark Liberty, the airport, will continue to grapple with very significant operational disruptions if the critical shortages of air traffic controllers continues without a solution. And longer term, other airports in the nation will have the same problems we’ve seen if nothing is done,” Schumer said.
Delays and cancelations pile up
The flight boards at Newark on Monday told the story: Delays and cancelations were stacking up, some as much as three hours.
Travelers are frustrated since there are no quick fixes. Some are finding themselves stranded.
“We’ve had our third delay that we’ve just got. But it’s not canceled yet, so we’re happy about that,” traveler Sue Tobias said.
She’s trying to return to Minneapolis.
“So far it hasn’t been canceled, but, like I said, we’ve gotten three delays so far. But we’re not set to take off for a couple of hours.”
“We came up here for a wedding. On Thursday we were delayed two or three times coming in here, and then we had to switch airports and fly into Atlantic City,” Florida resident Jay Lampiasi said. “[Atlantic City] is easy. It’s so much easier.”
What’s going on with Newark air traffic controllers?
The problems started a week ago but ramped up last Thursday due to a shortage of air traffic controllers and equipment outages. Adding fuel to the fire, one of the runways is under construction, limiting how many planes can take off and land.
Sunday evening, the airport reported 423 delays and 138 cancellations. Arriving flights were delayed up to four hours, while departures were delayed more than 30 minutes.
A source familiar with the situation told CBS News that 20% of staff at the air traffic control center in Philadelphia, which oversees the airspace in Newark, walked off the job in frustration late last week.
United Airlines is now cutting 35 roundtrip flights a day at Newark because of the disruptions, and the FAA instituted a “flow constrained area,” something typically seen in Florida due to heavy summer traffic or storms.
Newark is one of three major airports serving the New York City area, and the delays are having a ripple effect in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, Dallas and other cities, according to the flight tracking company FlightAware.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has said he will release the details of a new plan to revamp the decades-old air traffic control system this week.
“I know [U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy] is committed to addressing our nationwide air traffic controller shortage by supercharging hiring,” Murphy wrote in his social media post. “The past few days have shown us exactly why we need to reverse the decades of staffing decline at the FAA.”
More than 90% of country’s airport towers are staffed below FAA standards, according to a CBS News analysis earlier this year.