Newark air traffic controllers lost contact with planes again in overnight outage

Air traffic controllers who guide planes in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport lost radar and communication with aircraft before dawn on Friday in another 90-second outage, the Federal Aviation Administration said, hours after the Trump administration unveiled a plan to overhaul the aging technology that keeps U.S. airspace space safe.

The outage occurred at about 3:55 a.m. ET, the FAA said. There are far fewer aircraft flying overnight, so disruptions were minimal compared with a similar outage on the afternoon of April 28, which snarled air travel for days.

Several controllers took leave because of the stress of that April incident, the FAA said. That exacerbated low staffing levels at the Philadelphia facility, where controllers oversee planes at Newark, New Jersey, airport, forcing the FAA to slow the airport’s traffic.

Like in the April incident, Friday’s outage left controllers unable to communicate with aircraft and their radar screens dark.

On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled plans to overhaul several aging facilities and modernize technology used by controllers, who oversee about 45,000 flights a day in the U.S.

Aviation-industry groups and labor unions applauded the proposal and said Thursday that Congress should approve at least $31 billion over the next three years for improvements. That includes $12.5 billion outlined in a House spending proposal last month, for air traffic control modernization and more hiring of controllers.