New York Citys (NYC) airports are experiencing capacity challenges in air traffic control (ATC), which has resulted in the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announcing last month that it would relocate a portion of the management of NYCs airspace to Philadelphia.
According to simpleflying.com , Newark Airports ATC contractor workload will be transferred to Philadelphia Airport by June this year to try to improve capacity at the airport.
A shortage of qualified ATCs has been cited as the reason for major air traffic congestion in the region. To ease ATC capacity, airlines were offered a lower minimum flight requirement (relating to how many of their slots are flown daily, weekly and monthly) to reduce the number of flights coming in and out of NYC. However, thislower flight requirement is set to expire in October this year.
Despite the measure to improve airspace operations at NYC airports, US airlines are requesting the continuation of reduced minimum flight quotas.
Airlines for America (A4A), the trade group representing Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest, is requesting an extension of the minimum flight quota to protect their existing slots at NYCs airports.
While there are concerns that the ongoing reduction of flights could stifle the flight availability at NYCs airports, A4As request follows an FAA statistics report that predicts the ATC shortage may only be resolved by late 2025.
Sign up to our mailing list and get daily news headlines and weekly features directly to your inbox free.
