Newark Liberty International, one of the busiest airports in the United States, suffered its second complete communication blackout in a matter of days on the morning of 9 May 2025. The disruption, which lasted about ninety seconds, has reignited concerns over flight safety in the US. It adds to a series of minor technical issues that have affected Newark in recent months, highlighting the urgent need for infrastructure upgrades amid a wider context of staffing shortages in the control tower.
The 9 May outage fortunately occurred during a low-traffic period, at 3:55 am local time, and therefore did not cause major disruption, unlike the 28 April incident. It affected both communications and radar displays at Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (Tracon) Area C, the facility responsible for directing aircraft entering and leaving Newark airspace. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it was a “telecommunications failure” that temporarily impaired air traffic controllers’ ability to track and communicate with aircraft. During the outage, controllers were forced to notify at least two inbound planes that radar was not functioning.
In an audio recording, a controller can be heard informing a FedEx pilot of the failure, saying: “Ex 9, I’m going you off, our just went again. If care about, contact airline and get some for them fix this.” A private jet arriving from Cyprus was also told to maintain an altitude above 3,000 feet to avoid possible communication loss during descent.
At the same time, Newark Airport was already dealing with operational issues, including low cloud cover and runway construction work. The FAA had imposed a ground stop on all departing flights due to the ongoing works, scheduled to last until 11:15 am local time.
An anonymous air traffic controller at Newark told NBC News that similar technological failures had occurred at least twice since August 2024, and that controllers had lost radio contact with approaching pilots on eight or nine occasions in recent months. The 28 April event was described by the controller as “the most dangerous situation imaginable.”
Radar and communication system outages at Newark have been linked to outdated and unreliable technological infrastructure. The issues appear to stem from the use of copper cables to transmit radar data from the FAA facility in Westbury, New York, to the Philadelphia Tracon, which has been managing Newark’s traffic since July 2024. One controller told CNN the data connection was “a long extension cord” with no real redundancy, saying: “Our understanding is there’s only one stream carrying both radar data and radio communications.” This single point of vulnerability has made the system prone to failure.
A particularly troubling aspect highlighted in testimony to NBC News was the apparent failure of backup systems. Mark Donahue, a recently retired Philadelphia controller, explained that normally, in the event of a radar failure, operators can press an “emergency service” button that activates a backup radar and instantly brings up a secondary screen showing aircraft, altitudes and speeds. However, he noted that when the Philadelphia team managing Newark activated the backup, “the screen remained blank, just like the primary one.”
Although the 9 May interruption was brief, it added to an already problematic scenario of delays and cancellations at Newark. By 11:30 am, there had been 246 delays and 66 cancellations, according to broadcaster KTVZ. These followed more than a thousand cancellations caused by the 28 April incident and subsequent staffing issues. United Airlines, which uses Newark as its East Coast hub, was forced to cut its flight schedule. On 3 May, CEO Scott Kirby announced the airline would reduce operations by a further 35 daily flights, about 10% of its programme. Historically, United operated around 440 flights per day from Newark, but following runway works and recent cuts, that number has dropped to 293.
In response to Newark’s ongoing difficulties, the FAA has announced a series of immediate measures to improve the situation. These include increasing the number of air traffic controllers, introducing three new high-bandwidth telecom links between New York and Philadelphia, installing a temporary backup system at Philadelphia Tracon during the transition to a more reliable fibre optic network, replacing obsolete copper wiring with higher-speed fibre technology, and developing Philadelphia’s facility as a hub to reduce dependence on New York. In addition, the FAA has imposed a cap on arrival rates at Newark for the foreseeable future and may temporarily lower them further to prioritise safety in the face of staffing shortages, adverse weather or equipment failures.
