A major construction project on one of Newark Liberty International Airport’s primary runways has been completed nearly two weeks ahead of schedule, allowing the Federal Aviation Administration to potentially relax flight restrictions soon. However, the ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers might still pose challenges.
Officials from the Federal Transportation Department, along with the United Airlines CEO and airport representatives, are set to provide a status update on the airport’s operations today, one of the three significant airports serving the New York City area. The runway’s reopening is slated for today, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The construction teams operated around the clock to finish the $121 million project early and alleviate some of the airport’s issues. Despite this progress, Newark has faced numerous cancellations and delays this spring due to a lack of air traffic controllers following technical faults at the FAA. These faults twice temporarily disrupted radar and communications at a Philadelphia facility that guides planes to and from the airport.
“Completing this major portion of the runway rehabilitation 13 days ahead of schedule is a testament to the extraordinary commitment and around-the-clock efforts of construction crews and our airport staff,” said Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole.
The FAA didn’t immediately answer questions Monday morning about when operations might change at the Newark airport.
Five air traffic controllers went on 45-day trauma leaves after the first radar and communications outage at the Philadelphia facility on April 28, and another one is out on medical leave. That left the facility with only 16 certified controllers and five supervisors. Officials have said there are another 16 experienced controllers in training that should get certified sometime between now and October.
The FAA limited the Newark airport to 28 arrivals and 28 departures an hour last month because of the construction and staff shortages. The agency has said that it expects to be able to bump up the number of flights daily in Newark to 34 arrivals and 34 departures once the runway construction is done. But it’s not immediately clear if the FAA will have to wait until the controllers on trauma leave are scheduled to return around the middle of the month.
Before the air traffic control problems this spring, 38 or 39 flights typically took off and landed hourly at the Newark airport.
The FAA has said it will revisit the limits again in October because it hopes to have more controllers trained by then.
The government also upgraded the software at the air traffic control facility after a second radar outage on May 9. That helped prevent a repeat problem on May 11 when there was another problem with the lines carrying the radar signal down from New York.
Verizon has installed a new fiber optic line between Philadelphia and New York after the problems but that isn’t expected to go into service until July after testing is completed.
