Let’s be honest—airports aren’t exactly known for their smooth sailing these days. But if you were at Newark Liberty this weekend, you might’ve felt like you were starring in a reboot of Airplane!—minus the laughs.
For the third time in just two weeks, a major air traffic control outage struck the New Jersey airport on Sunday. Yep, again.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the culprit was a telecommunications issue at Philadelphia’s TRACON Area C, which handles Newark’s airspace. The glitch forced a 45-minute ground stop. Cue long lines, frustrated sighs, and a whole lot of “Is my flight even real?” energy.
Still, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy insists it’s all under control.
“Safe to fly,” he told The Washington Post, adding that backup systems are in place and procedures are followed to a T. His words? “Not ideal.” No kidding.
Let’s recap:
— April 28? Big blackout.
— May 9? Another radar blink.
— May 11? Sunday scaries with a side of flight delays.
And it’s not just equipment acting up. These repeated outages have put serious strain on air traffic controllers. Some are reportedly taking trauma leave, according to New York Post. Can you blame them?
To ease the pressure, Duffy says Newark will see fewer flights in the coming weeks. Think of it as air traffic yoga: deep breaths, slow landings.
Meanwhile, the administration is pushing for a full-scale, billion-dollar makeover of the U.S. air traffic system. That includes fancy new tech, control center upgrades, and—get this—raising the retirement age for controllers from 56 to 61. Because nothing says “relaxing job” like guiding metal tubes through the sky.
There’s also talk of juicy 20% signing bonuses to attract fresh talent. Paging every gamer with fast reflexes and nerves of steel.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby is backing the effort. He told Fox Business that despite the chaos, flying is still the safest way to travel. And he’s not wrong.
Yes, the delays are annoying. Yes, the system needs a tech glow-up. But no, Newark isn’t falling apart.
Just… maybe don’t cut it too close next time you fly out of there.