FAA Says Newark Airport Should Be OK by October

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration says he is confident that the issues plaguing Newark Liberty International Airport will be fixed—but it's not going to happen overnight. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy "has been very clear with me that we need to fix this, and we're fixing this now," acting FAA head Chris Rocheleau said of the airport's tech issues at a House hearing on Wednesday, per CNN. "The second piece to that is the staffing," Rocheleau said. "I think by October, we will be very healthy in there at staffing levels that we need."

Technical problems and shortages of air traffic controllers have caused multiple outages and many days of delays at the airport over the last few months. The New York Post reports that there was another ground stop on Wednesday due to the shortage of controllers, with the FAA ordering planes to stay on the ground from 5:20pm to 6pm.

Fox 5 reports that with five controllers on 45-day trauma leave after losing contact with aircraft in a terrifying incident in April, the Philadelphia facility that handles Newark air traffic is down to 16 certified controllers and five supervisors. Officials say another 16 controllers in training should be certified between now and October, the AP reports. The FAA limited the airport to 28 arrivals and 28 departures an hour last month, but a construction project on one of the airport's three runways was completed ahead of schedule so the agency is preparing to lift the limit to 34 of each per hour.