United Airlines Says Cut Flights At Newark Until Problems Are Fixed

To avert continuing delays at Newark Airport, United CEO Scott Kirby has proposed that the Federal Aviation Administration reduce the number of hourly flights by more than a third.

“In ideal weather, with full staffing and with perfectly functioning technology, the FAA tells us that the airport can only handle 77 flights per hour,” Kirby wrote Wednesday in a letter to employees. “And yet, the FAA regularly approves schedules of 80+ flights per hour almost every day between 3:00pm and 8:00pm.”

The number should be reduced to an hourly total of 48 flight operations, including departures and arrivals, until construction of a new runway is completed, Kirby wrote.

He noted that while “every other large capacity constrained airport in the world uses slots to make sure that the number of scheduled flights in any given hour does not exceed the airport’s maximum capacity,” Newark is no longer slotted – the result of the FAA’s 2016 decision to eliminate slots at the airport.

Since last weekend, United has cut 35 round trip flights per day from its Newark schedule. The airport has about 500 daily departures and 500 daily arrivals. United operates nearly 400 daily departures to 130 destinations, both domestic and international. Its Newark operation is considered to be the best transatlantic hub in the U.S.

ATC delays at Newark have posed problems for decade. However, the current level of disruption is unprecedented. One of the airport’s three runways was shut down on April 15 for rehabilitation and repaving: it is slated to reopen in mid-June.

Additionally, a half dozen controllers have taken medical leave because of the stressful conditions imposed by technology issues at Philadelphia TRACON, which processes radar data transmitted from a system that guides aircraft using Newark airport.

On Wednesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy unveiled a new package to boost the air traffic controller workforce.

“In our first 100 days, this administration has made more progress on addressing the air traffic controller shortage than the last one did in four years.” Duffy said in a press release. “But there’s more work to be done to secure our skies. Today’s actions will supercharge the air traffic controller workforce from both retention and hiring side of the equation – bringing us one step closer to reversing decades of staffing declines.”

The package will allow more of the best and brightest candidates to get into air traffic facilities and on the job faster, as well as increase retention of experienced controllers. the FAA said. The agency FAA is on track to hire at least 2,000 controllers this year.

Besides reducing operations to 48 hourly, Kirby proposed that slotting should be reimposed, air traffic control should be modernized and Newark air traffic control should be fully staffed.

“It’s long past time to treat EWR like the crown jewel that it is. It was a mistake to de-slot the airport in 2016 – every single data point says so – and we’ll continue to work closely with the FAA and DOT to get EWR fixed once and for all and deliver the country the first-class air traffic system it deserves,” Kirby said. FAA did not respond to a request for comment on Kirby’s proposal.