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You guys might have seen some pretty scary headlines about Newark International Airport in the last few weeks: runway closures, air traffic controller shortages, terrible weather, massive delays. And all that right as the peak summer travel season is about to kick off. So, what is happening at Newark Airport right now?
As the resident US airport nerd/aficionado/weirdo here at Jack&rsquo;s Flight Club, I&rsquo;m here to break it all down for you and soothe (or exacerbate) any worries you might have. There are two main causes; Newark Airport has closed one of its two main runways for construction, while the national Air Traffic Control (ATC) shortage has also been hitting the airport especially hard.

Runway Construction: Newark is an old airport that has been undergoing renovations for years. The busiest runway at the airport has needed renovations for a few years, and they&rsquo;re finally doing it now. That meant weekend closures in March&ndash;April and, since April 15th, a full closure through June 15th. Only two runways instead of three has made traffic far worse, as only one runway can handle wide-body jets, and the other is barely long enough for narrow-bodies.
Air Traffic Controller Shortage: This has been a nationwide issue for a few years, but it&rsquo;s gotten far worse recently. When hundreds of government employees at the Federal Aviation Administration were laid off earlier this year, an already-thin department quickly became thinner. The FAA now claims they&rsquo;re 3,000 air traffic controllers short of where they hope to be for most efficient operations.
New York City has the busiest airspace in the country, which has only made this shortage worse. Newark ATCs were moved from a facility in the area to one in Philadelphia, about 60 miles away. That facility has outdated technology, which last week led to a 90-second radar drop. Thankfully, nothing happened in that time, but several ATCs have taken medical leave following the traumatic incident, affected by the knowledge that something could have gone very wrong.
Further Newark Airport Chaos: May is the start of the peak travel season, meaning an increase in flights and travelers going through Newark compared to a few months ago. Plus, the weather in the New York area has been pretty miserable the last few weeks, further delaying and cancelling flights.&nbsp;
So, combine fewer air traffic controllers and fewer runways with more travelers, and you have a perfect formula to create a massive bottleneck at the US&rsquo;s 12th-busiest airport. But there is a solution on the horizon.
For one, the runway will open back up in a few weeks, even if it has to close again on weekends. That should alleviate some concerns. Additionally, more ATCs are being called in from Long Island to fill gaps, and those on medical leave will hopefully be able to return to work before long. Lastly, United (which carries about 63% of traffic at Newark) has already begun to roll back some flights from the airport to help calm this storm. So, while the situation might be at its worst now, it should improve relatively soon.&nbsp;

That being said, if you are due to fly from Newark in the coming weeks, it&rsquo;s probably best to avoid the airport if you can spare the cash to book another. Your flight might get off the ground totally normally, but there&rsquo;s a much greater chance of drama than at other New York area airports.
That&rsquo;s my quick insight into the chaos going on at EWR right now, but to be honest, it has never been my favorite airport. As a reward for making it all the way to the bottom of this info dump, let me rant about my own experience at Newark in 2023.&nbsp;
I got to the airport 3 hours early for the hour-long flight up to Rochester, New York, for my brother&rsquo;s university graduation. After a $50 dinner and catching some playoff basketball, I got to the gate for the 10 PM flight. And then the first delay hit, then the next, and another, until finally, at midnight, a cancellation was announced due to a mechanical issue on our plane.
I was panicking. The graduation was at 4 PM the next day and the plane was absolutely full, creating a super long line at the United help desk. I checked Google Flights and noticed a 7 AM flight from JFK on Delta with only 2 seats left. I booked as quickly as I could, and hopped in a far too expensive Uber back to my Brooklyn apartment. 
While in the Uber an hour later, I received a notification from United: they had rescheduled the flight for 10 AM that morning. Lovely information that I would have really appreciated a little earlier, say, right when we were first cancelled&hellip;
In the end, I made the graduation on about 2 hours of sleep and had a good time with my family. But I have since added Newark to my *ONLY WHEN NECESSARY* list, along with &ldquo;walking instead&rdquo; and &ldquo;seaplane?&rdquo;&nbsp;

Runway Closures, Delays, ATC shortages, and More: What's Happening at Newark Airport?

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