The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Wednesday it is taking immediate steps to address problems that have escalated flight delays and cancellations at Newark Airport in recent weeks.
In a statement, the agency explained that the air traffic controllers responsible for Newark’s airspace are based in Philadelphia, while the radar data processing system they rely on is in New York. A failure in the telecom connection that transmits that data to the Philly center was one of the key issues that triggered the current disruptions.
To improve communication and data flow, the FAA said it is installing three new high-bandwidth telecom connections between the Philly and New York facilities. It is also replacing aging copper lines with modern fiber-optic infrastructure for greater speed and reliability….