US DOT to establish new communication links to ease Newark delays, says Duffy

Three new communication connections will be established between New York and Philadelphia to address recent radar outages that led to flight delays at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), US Department of Transport Secretary Sean Duffy announced. 

During a conference, held on May 12, 2025, Duffy said three recent equipment incidents on April 28, May 9, and May 11, 2025, caused short outages affected the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) communication radar displays. 

“The most serious of these outages lasted approximately 30 seconds,” Duffy explained. “The STARS displays took approximately 60 seconds then to reboot and come back online. The outage was 30 seconds but then the displays took another minute to boot – that’s where you get 30 and 90 seconds, but the telecom was out for 30 seconds.” 

The outages briefly affected the phone line and radio frequencies used by controllers to communicate with pilots. Duffy said these frequencies were restored quickly. 

Duffy blamed the recent outages at Newark airport on the Biden administration, claiming that issues began when air traffic control was moved from New York to Philadelphia in July 2024. However, the radar data system for Newark stayed in New York – it wasn’t relocated to Philadelphia where the controllers were. 

“The Biden administration bungled this move without properly hardening the telecom lines feeding the data which was already well known to be error prone,” Duffy said during the conference. “Without addressing the underlying infrastructure, they added more risk to the system.” 

New communication connections to secure Newark airspace 

To address the problems that led to flight delays at Newark airport, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a software update on May 9, 2025, to prevent future outages. Duffy stated that “the software patch was successful and redundant lines are now both working.” 

According to Duffy, the temporary software fixes should prevent future outages, but the main problem is the telecommunication lines. 

Duffy said he will ask the International Investigative Group (IIG) to launch an investigation “into the failures of the last administration and the decisions that were made” to relocate the TRACON from N90 in New York to Philadelphia. Duffy added that the FAA is putting together a team of experts to quickly implement the necessary fixes. 

In late May 2025, the US DOT will meet with leaders from Verizon and L3Harris to discuss ongoing telecom problems. Duffy stated that they will work quickly to “get efficient and effective lines working for Newark.”  

Duffy stated that the main goal is to establish three new communication connections between New York and Philadelphia. He also added the FAA is currently implementing a temporary backup system for the Philadelphia TRACON. 

“This system will ensure that if both fiber connections fail at the same time, air traffic controllers will still be able to communicate with aircraft and with other controllers,” Duffy explained.  

The FAA plans to set up a STARS hub at the Philadelphia TRACON to avoid having to rely on getting data from New York.  

Finally, Duffy said the FAA will hold a meeting with airlines on May 14, 2025, to discuss reducing the number of landings at Newark airport. 

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