Newark's perfect storm: What's causing long delays at the airport?

A compounding mess at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey has led to days of flight delays and cancellations.The big picture: Several factors have collided to fuel more than a week of airport headaches, the most prominent being a shortage of air traffic controllers.Driving the news: United Airlines announced in a Friday statement that it would be removing 35 round-trip flights per day from its schedule at Newark, a major hub for the airline.United CEO Scott Kirby pointed to persistent air traffic controller shortages and technology issues that resulted in diverted, delayed and cancelled flights in his statement. Some controllers took trauma leave after briefly losing their radio and radar feeds, exacerbating the shortages."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," Kirby said.Zoom out: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday called for an inspector general investigation into the issues at Newark, warning the chaos there could "very well be a harbinger if issues like these aren't fixed."The latest: According to data from tracking website FlightAware, there have been more than 250 delays at the airport today and over 150 cancellations. United had delayed more than 120 flights as of Monday afternoon.The FAA estimated delays averaging nearly four hours for flights heading to Newark as of Monday afternoon.The FAA did not respond to Axios' request for comment on the cause of the delays, though a Monday status update cited staffing and low cloud ceilings.Last week, NBC's Tom Costello reported that a veteran controller told him to avoid the airport at all costs.It's a stunning situation at an airport that the Department of Transportation listed in its top 20 busiest based on passengers boarded last year.Context: The mess was not caused by one issue alone, Axios aviation expert Alex Fitzpatrick notes.On top of staffing shortages, technology errors and bad weather, one of the airport's runways remains closed until mid-June for "rehabilitation work."What they're saying: "The technology that we are using is old," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Friday in a post on X. "That's what is causing the outages and delays we are seeing at Newark."He continued, "If we don't act, we will start to see these issues across the national airspace." Duffy added that he will soon unveil a plan for "an all-new air traffic control system."Last week, Duffy announced a new package of actions to boost air traffic controller recruitment and retention, which included incentives to keep controllers from retiring and financial awards for new hires and academy graduates. Zoom out: It's not just Newark being plagued by staffing deficits. A large slice of U.S. air traffic control facilities are understaffed, per FAA data. Though it's been a long-standing issue, January's mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport sparked elevated awareness of the shortages. Go deeper: Musk wants retired air traffic controllers to resume work, but it's not so easy

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Major delays at Newark airport as FAA cites air traffic control staffing issues

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