Updated at 4PM ET
Cancelled flights at one of the busiest airports on the US East Coast are making air travel a major pain on the first day of the work week.
A shortage of air traffic controllers along with construction at EWR caused cancellations of 141 inbound and outbound flights on 04MAY. As of 4:00 pm ET on O5MAY, Flight Aware was reporting 151 cancelled flights for 05MAY along with 300 delays.
In addition, as of 4:00 PM ET on 05MAY, FlightAware was reporting:
- Departure delays an average of 26 minutes (and decreasing)
- Inbound flights delayed at their origin an average of 3 hours 59 minutes due to low clouds
Multiple reports said runway construction at EWR has reduced the airport to just one runway.
ABC News reported Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is calling for an inspector general's investigation, while New Jersey Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy took to Twitter/X to call the delays “completely and utterly unacceptable".
Arriving flights were delayed up to four hours on the weekend, said CBS News.
Porter Airlines has warnings posted on its advisory site for O5MAY and 06MAY, saying “flights may be disrupted by air traffic management.”
Porter is advising agents and consumers to monitor their flight status, and to to go My Bookings to learn if flights are eligible for complimentary changes.
“A waiver may be issued for select flights, allowing passengers to change their bookings to fly earlier or later than scheduled, avoiding potential travel disruptions.”
Air Canada has an advisory out for EWR for rain and visibility issues. They also have posted advisories for BOS, JFK, LGA, PHL, DCA and IAD for 05MAY.
ABC News said several issues have led to delays and cancellations for about a week, and those disruptions were happening again on the first day of the week. United Airlines announced it would cancel 35 round-trip flights daily, a necessary step, the company said to protect its customers. United also said more than 20% of FAA controllers at EWR walked off the job.
“Without them, Newark cannot handle the number of planes scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead. In addition to staffing limitations, officials say air traffic control outages have contributed to the ongoing problems at Newark Airport over the last week, “ ABC was reporting.
The Federal Aviation Administration instituted what's called a "flow constrained area’’ for Newark, “something typically seen in Florida due to heavy summer traffic or thunderstorms,” the network said.
