Newark Liberty International Airport Ground Delay: When Service Could Return
May 9, 2025
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A ground delay was issued at Newark Liberty International Airport on Friday, data shows. It follows an outage in the airport’s control tower earlier in the day, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed.
The FAA said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that there was a telecommunications outage that “impacted communications and radar display at Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which guides aircraft in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport airspace.”
The post indicated that the outage occurred at about 3:55 a.m. Friday and lasted roughly 90 seconds.
The ground delay, which was separate from the outage, is related to “low ceilings” for departures, meaning weather conditions and low clouds are posing potential hazards for flights taking off.
Travelers make their way through security on May 5, 2025, at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, which has been hit with recent delays and cancellations. Travelers make their way through security on May 5, 2025, at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, which has been hit with recent delays and cancellations. AP/Seth Wenig
Why It Matters
Newark Liberty International is a major airport in the New York metropolitan area and a key node in the national aviation system. Delays because of weather conditions, as well as the continued disruptions at the site, have effects on flights across the country.
What To Know
According to National Airspace System Status, as of 11:50 a.m. ET, there is an ongoing ground delay at Newark.
Departures to Newark are delayed an average of 262 minutes “due to low ceilings,” according to the site.
Per FlightAware, there are 292 delays at Newark and 117 flight cancellations.
On the FAA website, an ATCSCC Advisory dated May 9 said that a ground stop was canceled. Ground stops are issued by air traffic control as a request for aircrafts to remain on the ground, usually at a departure airport. It can be used to manage traffic flow, especially when an airport’s capacity is reduced because of weather, equipment issues or other reasons.
It’s unclear when the ground delay will be resolved.
According to The Weather Channel, Newark is currently cloudy, with an 11 percent chance of rain. The evening forecast is partly cloudy with a 5 percent chance of rain. The main cause of the ground delay is weather-related.
The New Jersey airport has continued to be hit with flight delays and cancellations and disruptions since April 28, when air traffic controllers at Philadelphia’s TRACON reportedly lost contact and couldn’t properly guide planes for upwards of 30 seconds, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Some controllers at Philadelphia TRACON who work with Newark arrivals and departures have taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages, the FAA said in a statement on May 5.
Hundreds of delays and cancellations have occurred, which local and federal officials have attributed to technology, staffing issues and inclement weather. United Airlines, which calls Newark its East Coast hub, subsequently removed 35 daily roundtrip flights.
The FAA said in a statement on Monday that its “antiquated air traffic control system is affecting our workforce.
“As Secretary Duffy has said, we must get the best safety technology in the hands of controllers as soon as possible. We are working to ensure the current telecommunications equipment is more reliable in the New York area by establishing a more resilient and redundant configuration with the local exchange carriers. In addition, we are updating our automation system to improve resiliency.”
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