OAN Staff Blake Wolf
3:45 PM – Monday, May 19, 2025
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed another radio outage at the Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, following multiple previous system outages.
The FAA revealed that the Philadelphia control tower “lost radio frequencies” for around two seconds, at around 11:35 a.m. local time.
“All aircraft remained safely separated,” the agency told Fox News — adding that it is conducting an investigation.
The FAA also noted that the agency enacted a ground delay at the airport, beginning at 2:07 p.m., which lasted until 11:59 p.m. — due to “staffing” shortages.
The Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (Tracon) area has repeatedly had issues with intermittent outages since April 28th.
The incident on April 28th saw the Philadelphia Tracon Area C temporarily lose “radar and communications with the aircraft under their control, unable to see, hear, or talk to them.”
Following the incident, five controllers took a 45-day trauma leave, further exacerbating the airport’s staffing shortages and ultimately leading to rolling flight delays.
The mass flight cancellations and delays warranted a response from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who proposed a “brand new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system.”
“Under President Trump, America is building again. Today we are seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a brand new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system,” Duffy stated towards the beginning of the month.
“Decades of neglect have left us with an outdated system that is showing its age. Building this new system is an economic and national security necessity, and the time to fix it is now. The unprecedented coalition of support we’ve assembled – from labor to industry – is indicative of just how important it is to this administration to get done what no one else could. The American people are counting on us, and we won’t let them down,” he added.
In the meantime, Duffy stated that a software update has already been installed to prevent the radio outages. He also blamed the former Biden administration for failing to take necessary preventative safety measures.
Duffy argued that Biden’s former transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, failed to accomplish a smooth transition of Newark’s airspace from New York to the Philadelphia Tracon — leading to the recent problems.
“Maybe when you work from home, or maybe when you work from Michigan as a secretary, maybe you’re not focused on the real issues that are taking place throughout the airspace,” Duffy said, referencing Buttigieg.
Duffy also criticized Buttegieg for neglecting much needed modern upgrades to the Philly Tracon, such as the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), which is utilized at major air traffic control centers throughout the United States.
“We didn’t have to be here,” Duffy added. “This did not have to be our story. Over the last four years, the last administration, they knew this was a problem. And by the way, during COVID, when people weren’t flying, that was a perfect time to fix these problems.”
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