On 28 April 2025, the radar screens of all controllers at Newark-Liberty International Airport—a key hub serving the New York and New Jersey area—suddenly went completely dark, and all radio systems fell silent. The breakdown caused panic among both controllers and pilots operating flights to and from one of the country’s busiest airports. The episode remained hidden from the public for several days, as no official statement was issued. It eventually came to light in the US press on 6 May, based on accounts from local controllers who requested anonymity.
Unofficial sources report that the failure was caused by a simultaneous outage of both the main and backup communication lines, leaving the controllers completely “in the dark.” According to internal testimonies from the control tower, all systems collapsed and, despite efforts to switch to backup radios, nothing worked. During those moments, between fifteen and twenty aircraft were manoeuvring in Newark’s airspace with no direct support from the tower—a situation that could have easily led to disaster.
The incident was later confirmed by Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who described it as a thirty-second interruption. However, other sources, including a US senator, stated it lasted ninety seconds. The fallout was not only technical but psychological: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) later reported that several controllers requested leave due to work-related stress, while United Airlines announced the cancellation of ten percent of its daily Newark flights to reduce pressure on the system.
Fortunately, the event did not result in any accidents, only delays. But it served as yet another warning of the chronic infrastructure and staffing issues affecting the US air traffic control system. A far more dramatic alarm had sounded just a few months earlier, on 29 January 2025, when a Black Hawk military helicopter collided with a PSA Airlines regional jet—a Bombardier CRJ700 operating as American Airlines flight 5342—near Washington’s Ronald Reagan Airport. The flight was arriving from Wichita with 60 passengers and four crew on board. There were no survivors, and the incident remains under investigation. Early findings suggest a series of communication and coordination errors between aircraft and the control tower.
These two serious incidents, which occurred in quick succession and within two of the nation’s busiest airspaces, have clearly revealed that the air traffic control situation in the United States has reached a critical point. Aside from accidents, the system’s weaknesses are contributing to systematic delays and flight cancellations. Currently, the country has around 10,800 certified air traffic controllers, against an estimated need of 14,633. This shortfall of approximately 3,500 tower controllers is a problem now openly acknowledged by multiple government sources and by the FAA itself. In 2023, only 23 out of the FAA’s 313 facilities reached their target staffing levels. For example, Washington’s Reagan Airport operates with just 63 percent of the required staff, Philadelphia falls below 60 percent, and the entire New York region is at 65 percent.
However, the shortage is not a recent development. FAA data show a 3.3 percent decline in controller numbers from 2013 to 2023, revealing a longstanding structural issue. Although the agency hired 1,512 new controllers in 2023 and more than 4,975 over the past five years, these efforts have barely offset retirements and resignations, failing to close the overall gap.
A key structural cause of the shortage lies in rigid hiring and retirement policies. Air traffic controllers in the United States must retire by age 56 but can draw a full pension from age 50. This system creates a continuous outflow of personnel that must constantly be replaced. At the same time, no one over the age of 30 can apply to become a controller, significantly narrowing the pool of potential candidates.
Another barrier is the lengthy training process, as it takes two to three years to become a fully operational controller. The long timeline, combined with a dropout rate of about 35 percent during training, means many candidates never make it through. The complexity of training is worsened by the fact that already understaffed facilities struggle to provide the practical instruction required for new recruits. This creates a vicious cycle: understaffed centres have less capacity to train new personnel, perpetuating—and sometimes worsening—the existing shortage.
The covid-19 pandemic further complicated matters, first halting and then reducing training programmes. During the crisis, when air traffic sharply declined, the FAA cut back the number of employed controllers. This downsizing created a vacuum that is proving difficult to fill now that traffic has returned to pre-pandemic levels.
To keep airports fully operational despite staff shortages, many controllers are forced to work mandatory overtime and six-day weeks for extended periods. According to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), 41 percent of its members work six days a week, ten hours per day. In some facilities, this excessive workload has become standard. In 2022, according to NATCA, controllers at 40 percent of FAA sites worked six-day weeks at least once a month, and some sites required such shifts every single week.
This workload inevitably leads to fatigue, stress, and potential performance drops—with obvious implications for air traffic safety. NATCA has raised concerns that new fatigue management rules imposed by the FAA, if not accompanied by adequate staffing increases, could actually lead to more shift gaps and, paradoxically, even more mandatory overtime to fill them.
The FAA is attempting to address the issue, having announced the hiring of 2,000 new air traffic control trainees in 2025. This move is part of a broader plan to eliminate the shortfall of 3,500 controllers within the next three to four years, as outlined by Secretary Duffy. To boost recruitment and retention, the Department of Transportation has introduced a series of financial incentives, including a 30 percent salary increase for new hires and a $5,000 bonus for those who successfully complete training.
In addition, the FAA will offer eligible controllers who are below the mandatory retirement age of 56 a lump sum equal to 20 percent of their base salary for each extra year of service. Further incentives include bonuses for positions in hard-to-staff locations and for trainees reaching specific milestones, with the aim of reducing the dropout rate.
In terms of infrastructure, Secretary Duffy plans to request billions from Congress to modernise the country’s air traffic control systems and increase staffing levels. A House of Representatives committee has already approved a preliminary allocation of $12.5 billion through 2029 as a “down payment” to tackle the issues.
The modernisation plan includes new radar systems, upgraded air traffic control terminals, and advanced runway safety technologies, with the aim of eliminating the use of outdated tools like floppy disks and binoculars—which are still used at some US airports to monitor aircraft. Part of the funding would also be used to replace ageing copper cabling with fibre optics. Today, the FAA spends \$7 million a month just to maintain its existing cables.
Even under the most optimistic projections, it will take at least three to four years to close the current controller gap. Other estimates put the timeline at five to seven years. In the meantime, airlines will continue to grapple with delays, cancellations, and capacity restrictions—especially at the most congested airports, such as those in the New York region.
