Avoid Newark
 

United is now telling customers to avoid Newark. What a mess!

I could have told them that when I was based there 18 years ago.

I live near Newark and do that. (Love area, hate EWR airport)

We fly to EWR?

It’s been a mess ever since the controllers were relocated to Philly. Add that and a runway closure, equipment failure and a staffing shortage and now it’s a disaster.

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/3be2ff8...0-2ca7397cdae9
Substitute Newark airport for planet earth….

It’s all part of his (Kirby) plan you see……get them to think JFK………..then his acquisition of JetBlue will make even more sense.

The problem with EWR is LGA…….meaning there is only one side for radar downwind. The problem with LGA is EWR and JFK in that there is little room for WX deviations on similar directional stars…which will cause them to meter volume on said star……The problem with JFK is well there are many problems but departing 31L…or arriving on the Kingston or Lendy you ATC has to corkscrew you up or down……very inefficient.

All three airports are run by the same lovely organization (PANYNJ) but they are effectively competing with one another another as their tenants are competitors with each other.

All the problems could be fixed by all three airports closing, or massively reducing their arrival capacity ….and build an artificial island west of Sandy Hook and Staten Island (12 DME 193r JFK 115.9) kind of like what they have in Korea for ICN. Accessibility by high speed rail from 5 line (2 from NJT, LIRR, MTA, and even Metro North)…..that way you can have two runway simultaneous departures, and two runways for simultaneous arrivals…

We all know this will never happen

Sound like a stupid dream…..well it also sounds dumb when we act surprised when issues like this week arise as they are very predictable, so I choose to not get angry about it.

I've always called it "Manure-Ick".

You need to cut down your caffeine. :D

But where would the windmills go then?

You are 100% correct.

And there's no reason a rich ass country like the US couldn't do this. But nope, the way we fund infastructure is asinine here so instead were stuck with our wonderful system we have today.

Funding has nothing to do with it, as you’d never get through 30 years of regulatory approval processes. By the time all those corrupt organizations (looking at you port authority) took their cut there would be no money left.

The Philly Goat. Yikes!

Maybe it is dangerous to fly into EWR.

And this is the sad, damn, truth of the matter. Hy-ever, I do believe that if the PRC keeps publicizing the third-world conditions of some of our infrastructure, King Donald might, just might, be offended enough to do something about it.

Dude flies to Mar a Lago every weekend. The Jax/Miami center manning and metering is what is going to get his and his cronies' attention.

Lol. As if metering applies to AF1...

Seriously. Was on Socal Approach when AF1 checked in after taking off from LAX. They got cleared direct Andrews.

‘the way it should be…

A knee jerk reaction to a very nuanced issue is exactly what we are about to see. The idea that you can’t hire controllers for a specific airport is stupid. The idea that a controller needs to be checked out on all sectors and stations is stupid and leads to the 4 yrs it takes to be fully qualified with a high wash out rate. You can train people to do one sector and do it well in a lot less time especially if they aren’t uprooting a family to move 3000 miles away in a lottery system. Hiring people that have zero aviation knowledge because of quotas or the idea that this is a jobs program HAS lead us to a large washout rate in Oklahoma.

The controller union and the faa has built this bureaucratic monstrosity that has slowly made it impossible to put butts in seats. The pendulum is about to swing the other way and they either figure it out or politicians are going to make a much bigger mess by sweeping, knee jerk mandates.

Screen name checks out.

Screen name checks .

Seriously, how long before a catastrophic event occurs in Newark due to failures of the ATC system. Eventually the Swiss cheese holes line up. And to be clear, this is in no way any disrespect to the hard working controllers out there. I know they are doing their best with garbage equipment.

the equipment maintenance team did get doged thanks current administration

I had not heard that, but I don’t doubt it. Do you have a source for this?

This is what happens when the government runs the airspace... and the airports.

The View...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/trave...s/83455354007/

“Industry advocates warned that these kind of equipment failures, which were already relatively common, would become more frequent amid DOGE cuts at the FAA. While the layoffs did not impact air traffic control tower personnel directly, and many of the probationary employees who were terminated were ultimately re-hired, the affected positions included maintenance personnel responsible for equipment upkeep, according to union representatives. Duffy said during the press conference last week that the FAA and DOT are planning a major announcement about new air traffic control equipment this week.”

Emphasis mine. Ostensibly this could be verified on the DOGE website but I’m not interested in digging through it as a lot of those claims have proven to be of dubious authenticity anyway. Not to worry, though, the “big announcement” is coming this week!

Done much flying around Europe and the privatized ATC? F that.

What about it is worse than here?

Yes. Both they and Canada seem to be doing ok.

I take off out of IAD going to Europe and they keep us at 250 kts and in the mid 20s all the way up to NY… everyone asking for normal speed and higher… response “unable I’ll let you know”.

cool story bro

Try flying in mainland China

I see your China and raise you operating in/out of BOM during monsoon season. :D

I'm sure most of you have seen this already but this is too good not to post...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJZuo...luOW95eHo3Ymxp

Take it for what it is worth (a whistleblower and the New York Post) but allegedly EWR was going to have zero staffing tonight. The story is confusing in how it is written though, so unclear if it is the Tracon or the tower (sounds like the Tracon).

http://nypost.com/2025/05/12/us-news...-and-landings/

Call for Kirby's IMMEDIATE resignation
 

Question: Has Kirby offered his resignation yet for the mess he turned EWR into?

It's not his fault. It's 40 years of a lack of investment by the FAA.

we have a CEO who turns the company into a juggernaut, and you want his resignation because of an FAA decision/issue?

Considering the previous administration oversaw the shift of the controllers to PHL and decades of presidential administrations have failed to upgrade the ATC technology, I see no reason to blame one bit of this on Kirby.