Creaking US air traffic system braces for summer crush

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - According to AAA, a record 45.1 million people are expected to travel on highways, trains, and by plane between Thursday, May 22, and Monday, May 26. This is anticipated to break the 2005 Memorial Day holiday weekend record of 44 million travellers. — AFP pic

NEWARK, May 25 — As the Memorial Day holiday weekend gets underway, US voyagers are girding for a bumpy ride as heavy summer travel volumes test the nation’s overworked air traffic system.

Travellers at Newark Liberty International Airport said this week they were resigned to delays but not worried about safety.

“It’s more of a concern coming back,” Benjamin Schmutzer, 32, said Wednesday night at Newark before his departure to Portugal. “Hopefully the government has sorted it out.”

One of three major airports serving the busy New York City region, Newark has been under a cloud since an April 28 equipment outage resulted in air traffic controllers losing radar and communications with planes for 90 seconds.

The incident, which spurred scrutiny in Congress and a comic skit on Saturday Night Live, was a factor in some Newark-assigned Air Traffic Control (ATC) staff taking leave “to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

While the bulk of the recent incidents have been at Newark, part of Denver’s air traffic system also lost communications for 90 seconds on May 12.

The US air safety regulator has also faced questions after a fatal January crash at Washington National Airport, the first major US commercial crash since 2009.

“There will be delays this summer,” predicted aviation consultant Jeff Guzzetti, the FAA’s former director of accident investigations.

Guzzetti praised Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s ATC modernisation drive as long overdue.

But he pointed to FAA “turmoil” from myriad departures of senior officials following the Trump administration’s push to downsize the government.

Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said summer travel will go more smoothly than feared if there are no major outages.

While the ATC system needs to be upgraded, Daniels does not believe the acute problems at Newark are pervasive throughout the system nationally.

But the recent incidents are a “warning sign” about the need to invest in modernising the system.

He also backs Duffy’s commitment to hiring more air traffic controllers, saying inadequate staffing means six-day work weeks and long hours for ATC workers.

“It is literally the burden of the system on the back of the American worker,” said Daniels.

Slowing down operations

Newark’s problems stem from the FAA’s decision in 2024 to move some Newark ATC staff to Philadelphia, relocating them from Long Island, New York, where the FAA currently manages some ATC operations for several sites, including both of the other two major New York airports.

Newark operations have improved in recent weeks since the FAA replaced some telecommunications lines to the Philadelphia site, US transportation officials say.

The agency this week also announced it was lowering the caps on total Newark flights.

The New Jersey airport featured prominently at congressional hearings earlier this month, during which FAA officials pointed to airplane systems that help guarantee distance between planes and noted that pilots are trained in case air traffic systems fail.

As a result of these redundancies, there was no “heightened significant danger to the flying public” at Newark, said Frank McIntosh, deputy chief operating officer of the Air Traffic Organisation.

McIntosh acknowledged that staffing in Philadelphia has had problems, with the number of working air traffic controllers dropping as low as three at a certain point, instead of the usual seven.

But safety was not compromised because the FAA curtailed flight service, he said.

“When we have a staffing shortage ... we put in traffic management initiatives to slow the aircraft down,” McIntosh said.

However, such moves wreak havoc on the schedules of travellers.

On the worst travel days, there have been more than 230 flight cancellations and 470 flight delays at the New Jersey airport, Port Authority officials said.

Still, officials from United Airlines, Newark’s biggest airline operator, said Friday they were optimistic of a smooth travel season this summer, citing the FAA flight limits as well as improved capacity once a runway construction project ends in mid-June.

But Ramesh Jaganathan, 47, does not expect a speedy turnaround.

“It’s a horrible experience,” Jaganathan said Wednesday night after his Orlando flight to Newark landed two hours late.

“We would love to reach our homes as soon as possible. But we’ve got to get used to it for the summer.” — AFP