NEW JERSEY (PIX11) – Newark Liberty International Airport will have limited flight departures through at least the fall, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Wednesday.
Usually, Newark Airport has between 50-54 departures per hour. The airport is currently only facilitating around 28 departures and 28 arrivals per hour due to staffing issues, runway construction and technology glitches, Duffy said at a news conference.
Ongoing runway construction is scheduled to be complete by June 15, at which point the airport can ramp up departures and arrivals to 34 per hour. But without more staffing, the airport won’t return to normal volume until at least the fall, according to Duffy.
“When the new runway comes online June 15, we’re going to bump that from 28 to 34. It’s going to stay that way until October, until we bring these controllers up to speed and add them to the airspace. And when that happens, we’ll do another evaluation and see how much, if any, we can increase those numbers.”
Some 16 additional air traffic controllers are currently in the certification process to join Philadelphia TRACON, which oversees flights in and out of Newark Airport.
The airport has seen delays and cancellations in recent weeks, and air traffic control system outages as recently as May 19. The first occurred on May 9, when air traffic controllers reported a 90-second blackout.
Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter who has covered New York City since 2023 after reporting in Los Angeles for years. She joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter here.
English (US) ·