Flight restrictions imposed at Newark Liberty Interantional Airport (EWR) following three recent radar outages at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) will remain in place until June 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced.
In an interim order, issued on May 20, 2025, the FAA said that the airport will operate with 28 arrivals and 28 departures until the construction of Runway 4-Left/22-Right is finished.
After construction, there will be 34 arrivals and departures until October 25, 2025. The FAA also stated that daily construction will stop on June 15, 2025, but will continue on Saturdays until the end of 2025.
“Our goal is to relieve the substantial inconvenience to the traveling public from excessive flight delays due to construction, staffing challenges, and recent equipment issues, which magnify as they spread through the National Airspace System,” said Acting FAA Administrator Christopher Rocheleau.
The agency said it intends to establish three new high-speed telecommunications connections between the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) in New York and the Philadelphia TRACON. According to the FAA, this will provide more speed, reliability and redundancy.
The FAA said it also plans to upgrade from copper telecommunications connections to fiberoptic technology that has “greater bandwidth and speed.” The agency will also set up a temporary backup system at the Philadelphia TRACON that will “provide redundancy during the switch to a more reliable fiberoptic network.”
Additionally, the agency also highlighted that it will establish a STARS hub at the Philadelphia TRACON so that the facility does not depend on a telecommunications feed from the New York STARS hub.
Finally, the FAA said it intends to boost the number of air traffic controllers across the country. Currently, Philadelphia TRACON Area C, which manages flights to and from Newark, has 22 certified controllers, five certified supervisors, and 21 controllers and supervisors in training. Out of those, 10 are currently undergoing on-the-job training. All 10 are certified on at least one position in Area C and three are certified on multiple positions.
“This means they can work those positions without supervision from an instructor,” the FAA said. “We have a healthy pipeline of controllers, with training classes filled through July 2026.”
The agency concluded that it will adjust the flight limits if it finds that more flights can be added without causing major delays, or if it needs to cut flights further.