In 2024, the FAA supervised nearly 16.8 million flights—over half a million more than the year before—yet it continues to rely on an air traffic control system from the early 1990s. Designed for a far less congested airspace and antiquated by today’s standards, this system struggles to cope with modern aviation demands. Despite increasing air traffic, government budget limitations and systemic inefficiencies have left the FAA under-resourced and technologically behind, leading to critical vulnerabilities in aviation safety.
Newark Liberty International Airport became the focal point of these issues in April 2025, when a communications failure between pilots and Newark TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) caused temporary chaos. For a brief but critical period, pilots couldn’t contact controllers, and then the radar systems failed entirely. With screens dark and communication uncertain, controllers had to rely on manual protocols, instructing pilots to maintain altitude or divert flights, highlighting just how fragile the system has become.
Though radar and radio were restored in under two minutes and no incidents occurred, the disruption caused a full shutdown for the rest of the afternoon. Flights were grounded until 5 PM, more than 30 were diverted, and delays rippled for over a week. Despite a relatively benign outcome, the episode exposed glaring deficiencies in the FAA’s preparedness and infrastructure, with the underlying systems not built for the complexity and traffic volume of today’s airspace.
Recurring Failures, Staff Shortages, and Missteps Deepen Crisis at Newark’s Air Traffic Control
This wasn’t an isolated event. On May 9th, another radar blackout struck Newark TRACON—its sixth such incident in nine months. Controllers were increasingly frustrated, as recurring failures endangered flights and strained their ability to manage operations. One controller’s candid remark urging pilots to “get some pressure on them to fix this stuff” illustrated the deep discontent among those on the frontlines. Meanwhile, systemic government issues—underfunding, bureaucracy, and outdated risk management—continued to prevent meaningful change.
FAA’s Outdated Systems and Staffing Crisis Push U.S. Air Traffic Control to the BrinkThe FAA’s centralized control facility for New York-area airports, known as N90, has been buckling under pressure. Handling over 6,000 flights daily, N90’s controllers manage one of the most complex airspaces globally. Despite the critical nature of their work, staffing has failed to keep pace. Cost-of-living increases far outstripped wage growth, leading to chronic underemployment, high turnover, and burnout. By 2023, the Newark sector at N90 operated at just 50% of its required staffing levels.
To address staffing issues, the FAA made a drastic decision in 2024 to relocate Newark TRACON operations to the Philadelphia TRACON, which had better staffing. However, the move triggered more problems than it solved. Most Newark controllers refused to relocate despite $100,000 bonuses, leaving the operation still short-staffed. More critically, the FAA failed to install new infrastructure to support remote operations and instead relied on unstable “mirror feeds” transmitted over outdated telecom lines.
Aging Tech, Budget Gaps, and Delays Push FAA Systems to Breaking Point
Rather than investing in a new STARS (Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System) server in Philadelphia, the FAA opted for a cheaper workaround, increasing the risk of outages. While the FAA claimed an almost flawless reliability standard for these remote feeds, in reality, downtime had already exceeded acceptable thresholds by a factor of 200. And all of this was happening atop a national air traffic control system riddled with aging equipment and patchwork fixes—cables wrapped in foil, power strips daisy-chained together, and radar systems cooled by desk fans.
The FAA faces a funding shortfall that hinders even basic maintenance. Despite a 50% budget increase over the past decade, last year the agency had to cover $5.2 billion in repairs with just $1.7 billion in maintenance funds. Moreover, it spent over $500 million of its 2025 budget early to cover overtime and hiring costs. In the midst of all this, cuts to critical support staff, including maintenance techs, further endangered the stability of a system already on the brink.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has pledged a transformation to “safe, state-of-the-art air travel,” backed by the FAA’s “Brand New Air Traffic Control Plan.” But the plan is light on details, and timelines are long. Many new hires won’t be fully certified until 2026, and infrastructure upgrades like fiber-optic links won’t be fully operational for years. The NextGen modernization project, started in 2003, is now delayed until at least 2034—an illustration of the FAA’s chronic inability to meet its modernization goals.
While air traffic controllers have thus far managed to maintain safety, the system itself teeters on a knife’s edge. Each new outage, staffing shortage, or failed upgrade increases the risk of a catastrophic failure. The FAA’s systemic underinvestment, flawed technology strategy, and bureaucratic inertia have left the world’s busiest airspace precariously vulnerable. Without urgent and sustained reform, the gap between safe and unsafe air travel may soon be measured not in theoretical downtime but in lives.
