Newark Airport Issues Statement After Troubling Ground Stop

The troubling equipment outages on Newark Liberty International Airport continued over the weekend as the Federal Aviation Administration said the third outage in less than two weeks happened Sunday morning after a backup air traffic control system momentarily failed.

The failure prompted a 45-minute ground stop to ensure that system was back up and running properly. Due to the ground stop, there were more than 250 delays and at least 80 cancellations. Following the latest issue, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called for reduced capacity at the airport to help ensure fewer delays and travel issues.

"We're going to have this reduced capacity at Newark. I'm convening a meeting of all the airlines that serve Newark, get them to agree on how they're gonna reduce the capacity," Duffy said, via CBS News New York. "We are building a new line that goes directly from Newark to the Philly TRACON, which controls the New York airspace. What happens now is it goes from Newark to N90, which is where it used to be controlled, and then down to Philly. That doesn't make sense. We're gonna have a direct line there."

Following the ground stop on Sunday, Newark Airport, which had not commented publicly on the travel issues until May 11, issued a short statement. "Ground Stop at #EWR due to FAA equipment outages has been lifted. Port Authority is monitoring impacts. Check with your airline before heading to the airport," it said.

Ground Stop at #EWR due to FAA equipment outages has been lifted. Port Authority is monitoring impacts. Check with your airline before heading to the airport.

— Newark Liberty International Airport (@EWRairport) May 11, 2025

Duffy admitted the issues at Newark Liberty International Airport will take "a little time" to fix, with a potential fix by "summer" while also revealing the equipment is so outdated it must be purchased on eBay because "no one makes it anymore."

"That's how old the system is that we fly on today," he said. "When you have the failings, you look at the whole system, and could other parts have issues? Of course."

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