The U.S.’s air traffic control system has struggled lately with a shortage of air traffic controllers and workload issues for existing controllers. New York’s Newark Liberty International Airport has particularly been affected, and United Airlines, which operates a hub there, is feeling the effects. Over the past three days, United has averaged 8% of flights being cancelled and 45% of flights being delayed at Newark.
Now United is responding with cuts at Newark. In a letter to customers, CEO Scott Kirby noted that the airline has been vocal about the issues with the ATC system and needed structural changes to the Federal Aviation Administration. Because of the impact of the controller shortage, Kirby said that the airline is cancelling 35 round trip flights from Newark starting this weekend.
Kirby’s letter also said:
“In the past few days, on more than one occasion, technology that FAA air traffic controllers rely on to manage the airplanes coming in and out of Newark airport failed—resulting in dozens of diverted flights, hundreds of delayed and canceled flights and worst of all, thousands of customers with disrupted travel plans. Unfortunately, the technology issues were compounded as over 20% of the FAA controllers for EWR walked off the job. Keep in mind, this particular air traffic control facility has been chronically understaffed for years and without these controllers, it’s now clear—and the FAA tells us—that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead.”
These new cuts represent about 10% of the airline’s schedule at Newark, where it serves 76 U.S cities and 81 international destinations.
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