Hundreds of flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey were canceled and delayed on Sunday due to an equipment outage the Federal Aviation Administration described as a “telecommunications issue.”
According to ABC 7, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that a “telecommunications issue” at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) Area C facility, which provides guidance for aircraft arriving and departing from Newark, caused the agency to implement a 45-minute ground stop on Sunday.
“The FAA briefly slowed aircraft in and out of the airport while we ensured redundancies were working as designed. Operations have returned to normal,” the FAA said in a statement. “Operations have returned to normal, get real-time updates at www.fly.faa.gov.“
Citing FlightAware’s flight tracking website, ABC 7 reported that as of 9 p.m. on Sunday, almost 260 flights had been delayed and 86 flights had been canceled as a result of the “telecommunications issue.”
According to ABC 7, Sunday’s equipment issue at Newark Liberty International Airport follows another issue on Friday that involved radar screens temporarily going black. The outlet noted that Friday’s incident was the third time in just two weeks that radar equipment failed at the Philadelphia facility that manages Newark’s airspace.
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According to Fox Business, the Federal Aviation Administration is planning to hold a “scheduling reduction meeting” on Wednesday regarding the flight issues at Newark Liberty International Airport. The outlet noted that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby have both indicated that flights at Newark Liberty International Airport have already been reduced.
In a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Duffy said, “I hate delays, I hate cancellations and I hate families who come with little kids that are sitting there for four hours.”
“I’ve done that myself on occasion. It’s hard,” Duffy added. “But I want you to get to where you’re traveling, and if that means slowing down flights into Newark, we slow them down to make sure we can do it safely.”
In a recent interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby claimed that flying remains the “safest way to travel” and explained that there are procedures in place in the event of equipment outages.
“It’s the safest way to travel by far,” Kirby told CBS. “I understand how people feel and empathize with that, but I know it’s safe because I’ve spent my whole career in it. I know all the people in aviation, whether they work at United Airlines, other airlines, the FAA. Safety is number one, and it is in the core DNA of everyone.”
