FAA Probes Short-Term Communication Disruption at Air Traffic Control for Newark Flights

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is probing another brief radio outage at the beleaguered air traffic control facility overseeing Newark Liberty International Airport. The Philadelphia TRACON Area C experienced a two-second communication failure around 11:35 a.m. Monday. Fortunately, all aircraft remained securely separated, and operations continued as normal. This incident follows the FAA's previous assurances that upgrades made after past disruptions would mitigate similar issues. On May 11, new software and backup systems were integrated; however, Newark still faced a 45-minute ground halt. Monday’s conditions led to delays averaging 23 minutes due to controller staffing shortages. Recurrent outages at Newark reveal significant underlying problems with the FAA’s aging infrastructure, prompting discussions on managing flight volumes as construction ensues.