Why Newark Air Traffic Control Crisis Has No Quick Fix

On April 28, air traffic controllers temporarily lost radar and radio communication with planes flying into and out of Newark Liberty International Airport

The equipment failure happened to controllers working at Area C of the Philadelphia TRACON, who are responsible for guiding flights entering and leaving Newark Airport.

The incident caused nearly half a dozen air traffic controllers in the Philadelphia-based facility to take a medical leave of absence, or “trauma leave,” which resulted in more than a thousand canceled flights. In addition to the incident, multiple air traffic control equipment outages in May have also contributed to thousands of delays and flight cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest airports.