NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) — An equipment issue led to major disruptions in and out of Newark Airport on Monday, according to officials.
The FAA says it began slowing arrivals and departures at Newark Liberty International Airport after telecommunications and equipment issues at Philadelphia TRACON, which guides aircrafts in and out of Newark.
Early Monday evening, officials said the outage had been fixed, but they also revealed that they had very few air traffic controllers to handle the airspace around, and in and out of Newark.
Perplexed controllers tried to explain the situation to pilots parked on the ground as dozens of planes diverted to alternate airports up and down the east coast.
United said it diverted more than 35 flights to alternate airports, and delayed flights at their departure airports, creating a backlog.
The airline expected cancellations and delays for the rest of the day due to the FAA staffing issues.
Sue Han’s five-hour flight from Los Angeles turned into a nine-hour odyssey.
“It was a long… a little longer than expected,” Han said.
Delayed passenger David Bibeau got to spend some quality time in Allentown, Pennsylvania on his way from Memphis Monday afternoon. His jam-packed plane was low on fuel.
“Hours and hours of circling Allentown, banking it and then sitting on the tarmac,” Bibeau said.
But in the end, things, slowly, returned to normal. Weary travelers tried to look at the bright side.
“Never been so happy to be in Newark in my life,” Bibeau said.
United has issued a travel waiver to give customers flexibility to manage their travel plans.
It’s unknown why the controllers are not working.
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