Newark Airport’s third runway reopened forward of schedule Monday, growing the capability of the beleaguered transit hub amid staffing and technical considerations which have led to widespread cancellations and delays over the previous a number of weeks.
In saying the opening Monday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy instructed reporters enhancements had been additionally underway to enhance the techniques and personnel issues which were on the coronary heart of the disaster. That features new transmission traces for essential radar feeds and the coaching of latest air site visitors controllers.
“Today we’re celebrating the opening of Newark’s runway,” Duffy stated. “This is a 60-day project that actually was completed 13 days early.”
The north-south going through Runway 4L/22R — one in every of two parallel runways that serve the majority of Newark’s passenger site visitors — had been closed in April for routine upkeep. The closure got here simply weeks earlier than a radar outage that precipitated a staffing scarcity — a trifecta of maladies that result in a Could meltdown for New Jersey vacationers.
Newark Airport has been working at a capability of 56 flights per hour — 28 arrivals and 28 departures — since 4L/22R closed in April. The runway was open for departures on Monday, and Duffy stated the FAA is anticipated to certify electrical gear on the runway by early subsequent week, which might clear it for arriving flights as nicely.
After that certification, the airport will probably be approved see as many as 68 flights an hour — a quantity Duffy stated the airport might help with the present staffing degree of air site visitors controllers.
The FAA Air Visitors Management tower is seen at Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport in Newark, New Jersey on Could 7, 2025. (Picture by KENA BETANCUR/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
However Newark’s issues over the previous few months have had much less to do with one fewer runway, and extra to do with a scarcity of air site visitors controllers amid a spate of technical failures.
The troubles got here to a head on April 28, when the radar protection of the North Jersey airspace and the telecommunications traces between the controllers and the native airport towers failed.
The outage successfully blinded air site visitors controllers at Philadelphia’s “terminal radar approach control” — or TRACON — who’re liable for the skies over North Jersey. Twenty % of the controllers assigned to the Newark airspace took a depart of absence over the incident — a depart that’s anticipated to final two extra weeks.
Alongside the staffing points, radar issues have persevered.
Till final 12 months, New York TRACON — positioned in Nassau County — managed the skies for all three main NYC airports: Newark, LaGuardia and JFK.
That modified in July 2024, when the FAA gave management of the North Jersey airspace — and the 2 dozen air site visitors controllers who had been licensed on it — to Philadelphia TRACON in an try to extra evenly distribute the workload on the chronically understaffed Lengthy Island management middle.
A show exhibits the standing of flights at Newark Liberty Worldwide Airport in Newark, N.J., Monday, Could 5, 2025. (AP Picture/Seth Wenig)
However regardless of the reassignment, the radar feeds that the North Jersey airspace controllers depend on are nonetheless despatched to New York TRACON. From there they should be despatched on to Philadelphia alongside previous copper telecom traces — a state of affairs that introduces latency into the system and may trigger outages.
Duffy stated Monday that work was underway to attempt to remedy each the staffing and technical points which have plagued Newark.
A brand new fiber optic line has already been run between Philly TRACON and the New York facility, Duffy stated, put in by Verizon “in less than a month’s time.”
“That new fiber line’s not stood up yet because we’re testing it,” he stated. “The FAA has some pretty laborious testing procedures — we appreciate that.”
“Our hope is, at the end of June [or] early July, we can switch it over [to the fiber optic cable,]” Duffy stated.
A spokesman for Verizon didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Duffy acknowledged that six of the 22 controllers assigned to Philly TRACON are at present on depart, leaving simply 16 to handle the North Jersey skies.
Duffy stated there are 22 extra controllers at present being skilled to take up roles on the Philadelphia facility. Of these, 14 are controllers licensed to handle different air areas across the nation. Eight are new controllers in coaching.
“It does take time,” Duffy stated.
“You want to make sure you have well-trained, certified controllers controlling your air space,” he stated, including that he anticipated them to return on-line inside the 12 months.
A spokesman for the Nationwide Air Visitors Controllers Affiliation didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Initially Printed: June 2, 2025 at 3:36 PM EDT
