FAA imposes temporary cap on Newark flight movements
May 23, 2025
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has introduced new temporary restrictions on flight activity at Newark Liberty International Airport, lowering the number of permitted take-offs and landings per hour as it seeks to reduce delays during ongoing runway maintenance and wider air traffic control system issues.
The new limits cap hourly arrivals and departures at 28 each while works continue on Runway 4L/22R, a reduction the agency says is necessary to alleviate delays that have been exacerbated by a combination of construction activity, staffing shortfalls and technical complications at control centres.
Once weekday work on the runway is completed by 15 June, and only Saturday work continues, the airport will be permitted to return to a slightly higher level of 34 hourly arrivals and 34 departures until 25 October.
Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau said: “Our goal is to relieve the substantial inconvenience to the traveling public from excessive flight delays due to construction, staffing challenges, and recent equipment issues, which magnify as they spread through the National Airspace System.”
The interim measure follows consultations with US airlines during a recent delay-reduction summit and comes amid heightened scrutiny of operational resilience in the northeast US corridor, which is among the most congested airspace regions in the US.
In a bid to shore up the region’s air traffic control infrastructure, the agency outlined a series of investments and upgrades designed to reduce risk and improve efficiency, particularly at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility, which manages a portion of Newark’s airspace.
Among the actions being taken are the installation of three new high-bandwidth telecommunications links between the New York-based Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) and the Philadelphia TRACON, replacing outdated copper connections with modern fibreoptic lines to enhance reliability and speed.
A backup system is also being temporarily deployed to Philadelphia TRACON during this network upgrade, while a new STARS hub is being established locally to remove reliance on the New York feed.
Staffing is also being bolstered. The FAA confirmed that Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which manages traffic into and out of Newark, currently has 22 fully certified air traffic controllers and 5 certified supervisors.
An additional 21 controllers and supervisors are in training, 10 of whom are already qualified on at least one position, with some cleared to operate in multiple areas independently.
