Air traffic operations at Newark Liberty International Airport were briefly disrupted again Friday morning after a telecommunications outage affected a nearby control center.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the outage occurred around 3:55 a.m. at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which oversees aircraft entering and leaving the airspace around Newark in New Jersey. The agency stated that the issue impacted radar displays and communications for approximately 90 seconds.
"Everything went back online after the brief outage and there was no operational impact," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. "DOT and the FAA are working to address this technical issue tonight to prevent further outages."
A similar incident was reported on April 28.
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On Thursday, the Department of Transportation unveiled a multi-billion-dollar plan to upgrade aging air traffic infrastructure, which has long relied on outdated technology. The plan includes building six new control centers, installing fiber lines at 4,600 sites, and deploying more than 600 new radar systems.
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The announcement followed a week of significant flight disruptions at Newark and mounting pressure from airline executives. United Airlines’ CEO has urged the federal government to invest more aggressively in technology, infrastructure, and staffing to prevent future meltdowns.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that without immediate upgrades, what happened in Newark could become common elsewhere.
