By Anita Hamilton

The 90-second communications blackout between air-traffic controllers and pilots in the Newark airport airspace early Friday was caused by "the same telecoms and software issues" that led to a similar outage a few weeks ago, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Friday.

Leavitt added that new fiber is being installed between Newark Airport and Philadelphia, where the controllers who oversee the Newark airport airspace are based. The work will be completed by this summer, she added.

Earlier Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed a second outage in the Newark airspace in two weeks. It happened around 3:55 a.m. and lasted "approximately 90 seconds," the the FAA wrote in a post on X.

"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 FAA added.

Delays at the airport for some arriving flights are currently four hours due to weather, according to the FAA.

Shares of United Airlines, which has a hub at Newark airport, were down more than 3.1% after the news.

The first blackout occurred on April 28 and led some air traffic controllers to take temporary leave, further exacerbating a nationwide shortage of some 3,000 fully-certified controllers. The administration announced plans for a new air-traffic control system on Thursday and is offering bonus pay of 20% to retirement-eligible controllers who stay on the job to help shore up staffing.

At the event where the White House unveiled plans for the new air-traffic control system, United CEO Scott Kirby said it was "disappointing" that the April blackout, which lasted between 30 and 90 seconds, happened, "but when it did the backup systems kicked in place and everyone does what they're supposed to do to keep the airspace still safe."

Write to Anita Hamilton at anita.hamilton@barrons.com

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May 09, 2025 13:42 ET (17:42 GMT)

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