The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended air traffic operations into Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport on Monday due to a technical malfunction. The disruption also affected New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport.
According to the FAA, the issue stemmed from problems with certain frequencies at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility. This center is responsible for directing aircraft approaching and departing from both Newark and Philadelphia.
The outage caused significant chaos at United Airlines’ primary international hub. The carrier reported that approximately 250 flights arriving at and departing from Newark were delayed, representing more than 20% of the day’s scheduled operations. Data from Flightradar24 indicated that 67 flights bound for Newark were forced to divert to other airports. These included several long-haul international routes returning from destinations such as Iceland, Greece, Spain, and France.
In response to the widespread delays, United Airlines announced it would waive change fees for passengers affected by the disruptions.
The incident highlights ongoing vulnerabilities in air traffic control infrastructure, adding to a series of travel challenges facing the industry this year.
Did anyone actually make it out of Newark? It seems like half my friends were stuck there all day. The diversion count is wild.
This is a nightmare for United passengers. Waiving change fees is the bare minimum; hopefully the FAA fixes this glitch soon.