FAA, DOT lay out framework to improve operations at New Jersey’s Newark airport

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday announced a set of initiatives that Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau plan to implement immediately to improve operations at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport. 

Immediately following the crisis that unfolded last week, when an FAA facility lost radar and radio communications for nearly 90 seconds while directing planes to Newark, the agency began working to improve the reliability of operations at the major airport, including accelerating technological and logistical improvements and increasing air traffic controller staffing.  

It began slowing arrivals and departures at the airport, one of the busiest in the U.S., to account for staffing and technology issues at Philadelphia TRACON, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark airport. The airport’s challenges have been further strained by ongoing construction at the field, which leaves it temporarily operating with only one of two parallel runways.

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A United Airlines aircraft at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The issues shed light on how the air traffic control system has been under immense pressure for years given the persisting staffing shortages, outdated technology and underinvestment in critical infrastructure. It’s a problem Duffy pledged to address, particularly following the midair collision between American Eagle Flight 5342 and an Army helicopter on Jan. 29 that left all the plane’s 64 passengers and crew and the helicopter’s three personnel dead.

Among their objectives, Duffy and Rocheleau are looking to add three new, high-bandwidth telecommunications connections between the New York-based STARS and Philadelphia TRACON, which they believe will improve speed, reliability and redundancy.

STARS is an FAA system that processes radar data for Newark and is based in New York. Telecommunications lines feed this data from New York to the Philadelphia TRACON, where controllers handle Newark arrivals and departures. 

Duffy and Rocheleau are also seeking to replace copper telecommunications connections with updated fiberoptic technology, which has greater bandwidth and speed, according to the FAA. 

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The agency will also deploy a temporary backup system to the Philadelphia TRACON to provide redundancy as it switches to a more reliable fiberoptic network.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg  / Getty Images)

The FAA will create a STARS hub at the Philadelphia TRACON so that the facility does not depend on a telecommunications feed from the New York STARS hub, and it will immediately work to increase controller staffing. 

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The area in the Philadelphia TRACON that handles Newark traffic has 22 fully certified controllers and 21 controllers and supervisors in training, according to the FAA. Ten of those 21 controllers and supervisors are receiving on-the-job training and all 10 are certified in at least one position.

Two are certified for multiple positions, according to the FAA, which said there is also a “healthy pipeline with training classes filled through July 2026.”