In the early hours of 9 May 2025, Newark Liberty International Airport was thrown into disarray when a telecommunications failure lasting between 60 and 90 seconds brought air traffic control operations to a halt. According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson, the outage occurred at approximately 3:55 a.m., blinding controllers overseeing one of the busiest airspaces in the United States.
Despite the disruption, FlightAware reported that several commercial and cargo aircraft landed safely between 3:07 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., with no safety or mechanical issues. Still, the incident triggered alarm bells across the aviation industry.
This marks the second such radar blackout in just two weeks. On April 28, a similar 60- to 90-second outage at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which manages Newark’s airspace, left controllers unable to see or communicate with planes. A third, less-documented telecommunications disruption occurred on May 11, further contributing to traffic delays.
The Trump administration cut ~400 probationary workers from the FAA, largely thanks to Elon Musk, but denies that the cuts are contributing to the major problems plaguing Newark airport, a major airport for New York City. https://t.co/qR80xxLOOB
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) May 11, 2025
The FAA attempted to mitigate the risks after the first incident by capping flight arrivals and upgrading bandwidth for TRACON systems. However, the recurrence of these outages suggests those measures fell short. The causes of the May 11 outage remain unclear, but its impact was enough to prompt further scrutiny.
US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy responded by announcing temporary flight reductions at Newark over the coming weeks. Speaking to reporters, Duffy said he would meet with major airlines to coordinate the scale of these cuts. He noted that reductions would mostly affect peak afternoon hours, coinciding with heavy international traffic.
FAA Statement
— The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) May 9, 2025
This information is preliminary and subject to change.
There was a telecommunications outage that impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport airspace. The…
Complicating matters further is a looming political debate over the future of U.S. air traffic control. The Trump administration has proposed a multibillion-dollar modernization plan aimed at revamping communications systems and building six new air traffic control centres nationwide within the next three to four years.
Meanwhile, Newark’s daily operations continue to suffer. FAA data reveals the airport has been averaging 34 cancelled arrivals per day since mid-April, with delays increasing as the day progresses, from just five in the morning to more than triple that by evening. Those delays often stretch well over an hour, with average hold times ranging from 85 to 137 minutes.
Ground Stop at #EWR due to FAA equipment outages has been lifted. Port Authority is monitoring impacts. Check with your airline before heading to the airport.
— Newark Liberty International Airport (@EWRairport) May 11, 2025
To help tackle this issue, Duffy proposed raising the mandatory retirement age for air traffic controllers from 56 to 61 and offering a 20% bonus to retain experienced staff. This action aims to address a FAA shortage of about 3.500 controllers. However, this action contradicts one of Trump’s priorities, namely, to cut down jobs in all federal agencies. In February 2025, the Trump administration laid off between 300 and 400 FAA probation workers, most of whom had been in their position for no more than a year.
