After another major power outage at New Jersey’s Newark Airport, airlines and federal officials are planning to reduce flights at one of the country’s busiest travel hubs.
Air traffic controllers’ radar screens were seen getting dark for nearly 90 seconds during the early hours of Friday morning in what some referred to as the closest call.
The fact that this is happening so frequently has some experts fearing what’s next for American aviation, as this could give rise to a midair disaster again.
The momentary power outage hit when air traffic was quite light. However, it was the second biggest blackout in two weeks at Newark, which is said to be relying heavily on radar data coming from centers in Philadelphia due to major shortages in staffing shortages.
Now, both airline executives and US transportation officials are said to be planning to meet to work on a plan that would shift air traffic away from the airport.
As per Bloomberg, carriers would voluntarily reduce the number of flights heading to Newark for a short span of time, potentially impacting millions of travelers.
As per Flightaware, the number of cancellations went above 140, and 401 flight delays were shared after the radar outage at Newark as of 4 pm on Friday.