United Airlines announced on Friday that it will be scaling back its operations at Newark Liberty International Airport, eliminating 35 daily round-trip flights from its schedule. The airline cited continued disruptions caused by airport construction, a lack of FAA personnel, and technical failures as the main factors behind the decision, which has already impacted thousands of passengers with extensive delays.
This latest adjustment will reduce United’s daily flights at Newark by 10%, a significant cut to the airline’s overall operations at the busy New Jersey hub.
“It’s disappointing to make further cuts to an already reduced schedule at Newark, but since there is no way to resolve the near-term structural FAA staffing issues, we feel like there is no other choice in order to protect our customers,” Kirby wrote in a statement to passengers.
By late Friday afternoon, Newark had logged 330 flight delays and 20 cancellations, according to data from FlightAware. Passengers arriving at the airport faced delays reaching up to two hours, while departing flights were held back by approximately an hour.
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration pointed to a combination of factors causing the backup, including a continuing shortage of air traffic controllers and resurfacing work underway on one of Newark’s runways.
“The FAA is slowing arrivals and departures at Newark Liberty International Airport due to runway construction at Newark and staffing issues at Philadelphia TRACON, which guides aircraft in and out of the airport,” a FAA spokesperson said.
This turbulent week at Newark Airport has already included a temporary halt to all departures on Monday afternoon, which was caused by a technical malfunction that disrupted airport equipment.
{Matzav.com}