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Travellers faced major disruption at two of America’s busiest airports on Monday, with more than 450 flights delayed and dozens cancelled due to ongoing air traffic control issues and staff shortages. Newark Liberty International and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International were both plunged into fresh chaos, as federal authorities warned of continuing disruption in the days ahead.Atlanta’s airport, the nation’s busiest, recorded over 370 delays by Monday afternoon, according to FlightAware, following a Sunday ground stop caused by equipment outages and thunderstorms. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cautioned that another halt could not be ruled out. Most of the delays affected Delta Air Lines, which uses Atlanta as its main hub.Meanwhile, Newark Airport saw 82 cancellations and another 85 delays on Monday, compounding a weekend of mounting technical failures.
A 45-minute ground stop on Sunday, triggered by an outage at an FAA air traffic control facility, set off the wave of disruptions. By Monday evening, delays were averaging more than 90 minutes, with some flights reportedly held up for nearly seven hours.The FAA blamed staffing shortages, revealing that only three air traffic controllers were scheduled during critical hours at a Philadelphia-based facility that now handles Newark’s flight operations.
According to the New York Times, the number of certified controllers at times dropped to just one or two—far below the FAA’s target of 14. The staffing crisis has been exacerbated by trauma leave taken by controllers after a recent radar outage, forcing the agency to limit traffic into Newark to ensure safety.US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that traffic into Newark would be reduced for several weeks. Speaking at a press briefing, Duffy accused the Biden administration and former Secretary Pete Buttigieg of failing to address longstanding infrastructure vulnerabilities, particularly the controversial move last year to shift Newark’s air traffic operations from New York to Philadelphia.
Duffy said that insufficient safeguards had been installed in the telecommunications lines, calling the system “error-prone.
”A software update installed Friday reportedly prevented a third radar failure over the weekend, but concerns remain. Duffy confirmed that while Sunday’s system stayed online, operations were halted for 45 minutes out of caution due to two previous outages. He called for a formal investigation into the FAA’s decisions and revealed a plan to overhaul the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure, including thousands of high-speed data connections and radar replacements.
However, no budget details were disclosed.
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