US FAA to announce temporary flight cuts at Newark after airline meetings

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday it plans to announce proposed temporary cuts to flights at Newark after meetings with major U.S. airlines to address congestion impacts.

The FAA held three days of one-on-one meetings with the airlines "to find a balance between reducing their operations at the airport and meeting the needs of each individual airline." The FAA plans to make a final determination on arrival rates on or after May 28.  

The agency is proposing a maximum arrival rate at Newark of 28 aircraft per hour until the runway construction is complete by June 15 except for Saturdays until the end of the year.

The FAA held numerous rounds of individual meetings with air carriers to win concessions to cut flights at specific times as the airport deals with a chaotic series of equipment outages, runway construction and staffing issues.

"The airport clearly is unable to handle the current level of scheduled operations," the FAA said this week, adding it believes the proposal "would reduce overscheduling, flight delays, and cancellations to an acceptable level."

Newark has also been hit by a series of serious telecom outages with controllers on April 28 briefly losing radar and telecommunications contact with airplanes.

Outside of the construction period, the maximum arrival rate would be 34 aircraft an hour until October 25.

The meetings included United Airlines, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL), JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU), American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines (OTC:SAVEQ) and Allegiant Air.

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United has sharply cut flights at its Newark hub and wants the FAA to impose new limitations on flights there to address ongoing delays.

"Reducing the number of flights scheduled at Newark will help ensure that we can safely and reliably operate the flights that remain on the schedule," United said Friday.

The FAA last year relocated control of Newark’s airspace to Philadelphia to address staffing and congested New York City-area traffic.

Nationwide, the FAA has about 3,500 air traffic controllers, below targeted staffing levels, and some controllers overseeing Newark took stress leave following the April 28 outage.

The area overseeing Newark has a targeted staffing level of 38 certified controllers, but currently has just 24 in place.

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