An airport control tower is seen at Newark Liberty International Airport, on May 6, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. Andres Kudacki | Getty ImagesAir traffic controllers have been under strain for years, but a 90-second equipment failure last week exposed how decades of staffing shortages, underinvestment and patchwork solutions for those who guide planes through some of the world’s most congested airspace are taking their toll.The outage also sparked hundreds of flight delays, disrupting travel for thousands of travelers for days — again.What happened?On the afternoon of April 28, air traffic controllers at a facility in Philadelphia who are responsible for guiding planes to and from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey faced dark radar screens and were unable to talk to planes for more than a minute.The outage lasted about 30 seconds. It took another 30 to 60 seconds for aircraft to reappear on radarscopes, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.United Airlines’ Captain Deon Byrne check her phone as she arrives at Terminal C in Newark Liberty International Airport, on May 6, 2025 in Newark, New Jersey. Andres Kudacki | Getty ImagesPilots for major U.S. airlines say they are specially trained to handle such outages.But an outage of even a few seconds “is an eternity for air traffic controllers,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired air safety investigator for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA.The incident, which was not the first time equipment outages hit the facility, was so jarring some have “taken time off to recover from the stress of multiple recent outages,” the FAA said.Read more CNBC airline newsRecession in Row 33: Plane tickets are getting cheaper as domestic travel demand weakensInternational tourism to the U.S. slumps, but Americans can’t stop traveling overseasDelta pulls 2025 forecast as CEO says Trump’s trade war is hurting bookingsGoodbye to ‘bags fly free’ on Southwest, the last free perk in AmericaMore than 1,500 Newark flights were delayed last week, according to FlightAware. United Airlines, which runs a hub out of Newark, said it was cutting 35 flights a day from its schedule to ease strain on its operation and customers.A Newark runway has also been closed for construction, adding to disruptions.New stepsOn Wednesday, the FAA said it would beef up staffing at the Philadelphia facility and work to fix communication lines that feed data to controllers there for Newark flights. It said it plans to install a temporary backup system there to “provide redundancy during the switch to a more reliable fiberoptic network.”Transportat …
