Market Data 
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has called on the FAA to categorize Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey as a slot-controlled Level 3 airport to address the air traffic controller shortage, which has led to hundreds of delayed and canceled flights.
Kirby wrote in an open letter to United Airlines’ customers on Friday that “the long simmering FAA challenges boiled over this week.”
Travel chaos ensued due to a combination of system outages and 20% of Newark’s air traffic controllers walking out. Kirby described air traffic control at Newark as “chronically understaffed for years.”
FAA Struggles To Manage NAS
The Federal Aviation Administration has forecasted “many days in the coming months with more than 50,000 total flights in the sky.”
While weather still accounts for the largest share (59.9%) of air traffic disruption, the Administration has recognized the impact of the national air traffic controller shortage and systems outages. It is working to resolve both.
The FAA recently implemented a supercharge program to boost air traffic controller recruitment and retention. The program simplifies the hiring process from eight steps to five and offers higher salaries and other incentives to new recruits and existing controllers.
The FAA aims to hire at least 2,000 new controllers this year. During a recent hiring push, the Administration reported over 8,320 candidates qualified to take the Air Traffic Skills Assessment aptitude test, and thousands passed the test to move on to the next hiring phase.
Following its Summer Air Traffic Operational Summit this April , the FAA also said it is addressing the technical issues impacting National Air Space management, especially in the Northeast.
Kirby Calls For Making Newark A Level 3 Airport
Despite these efforts, air traffic control issues at Newark Airport continued to plague flights through the weekend, with some prolonged delays leading to cancellations that left thousands of passengers stranded.
As Scott Kirby wrote, “It’s now clear – and the FAA tells us – that Newark airport cannot handle the number of planes that are scheduled to operate there in the weeks and months ahead.”
Kirby emphasized that United would do “absolutely everything in our power to minimize the impact that this will have on customers.” That includes canceling 35 roundtrip daily flights at the airport.
“It’s disappointing to make further cuts to an already reduced schedule at Newark, but since there is no way to resolve the near-term structural FAA staffing issues, we feel like there is no other choice in order to protect our customers,” Kirby wrote.
He also noted that United has urged the U.S. government to limit flights at Newark “for years.”
Currently, only John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are classified as Level 3 airports. Implementing Level 3 slot controls at Newark Airport would mean that airlines would have a “use it or lose it” right to operate flights, requiring a minimum of 80% service to retain the slot.
Airlines have successfully applied for exemptions to the application of these rules following the decline in air travel demand during the COVID-19 recovery.
Newark Airport Slot Control May Not Be Enough For United Airlines
However, slot controls alone may not fix United’s problems. According to data from aviation analytics company Cirium, Newark is United Airlines’s fourth busiest domestic hub.
- Chicago-O’Hare (ORD): 17,155 scheduled flights in May with 2,109,101 seats.
- Denver International Airport (DEN): 16,254 scheduled flights with 2,116,882 seats.
- Houston-Intercontinental (IAH): 15,026 with 1,889,066 seats.
- Newark Liberty International (EWR): 10,385 flights with 1,666,749 seats.
The airline is also the dominant operator at Newark by a broad margin, operating over 10,000 of the 15,000 flights scheduled to take off from Newark this month.
United Airlines’ 35 daily flight reduction may not sufficiently relieve airspace management around the airport. Even if the FAA implemented slot controls, there is no guarantee that enough of the other airlines operating there might lose underused slots and free up enough room for United.
United Airlines is said to be seeking an alternate gateway to New York through JFK, an airport it abandoned in 2022 after failing to acquire sufficient slots to make service viable. The airline is now reported to be negotiating a partnership with JetBlue to offer flights to JFK.
However, the tenuous proposal has already garnered objections from JetBlue’s pilot union, which says it would violate a job protection provision in their existing contract.
Reuters reported that the JetBlue Air Line Pilots Association has contacted attorneys to challenge the possibility of a future partnership. JetBlue is currently negotiating a new contract with its pilots.
