May 12 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration

said on Monday it will propose flight cuts at Newark Liberty

International Airport, citing air traffic controller staffing,

runway construction and equipment issues.

The FAA also implemented a new ground delay program at

Newark on Monday, citing air traffic control staffing issues.

"The airport clearly is unable to handle the current level

of scheduled operations," the FAA said in a notice ahead of a

two-day meeting starting on Wednesday with airlines to discuss

flight cuts. "FAA believes that this proposal would reduce

overscheduling, flight delays, and cancellations to an

acceptable level."

The FAA is proposing an hourly arrival rate of no more than

28 operations and corresponding departure rate of 28 operations

during construction on a runway at Newark.

The FAA meeting will only address planned operations by

domestic air carriers.

That limit would be in place until June 15, and on weekends

from September through the end of the year. The FAA is

separately proposing capping the scheduled rate of arrivals and

departures at 34 each per hour through October 25 when

construction is not ongoing.

Newark has been hit by a series of telecom outages.

On Sunday, the FAA said a new telecommunications issue at

the facility that guides aircraft at Newark forced the agency to

briefly slow flights in and out of the airport.

The problem at Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control

briefly led the FAA to issue a ground stop while it ensured

redundancies were working as designed.

On Friday, the Philadelphia facility suffered a 90-second

radar and telecommunications outage, the second in two weeks

after a serious outage on April 28.

The latest incidents highlight the air traffic control

network's aging infrastructure and come after Transportation

Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday proposed spending billions of

dollars to fix it over the next three to four years.

The FAA said last week it was taking immediate steps to

address ongoing problems that have disrupted hundreds of

flights, especially from United Airlines, the largest

carrier at the airport.

United has sharply cut flights and wants the FAA to impose

new limitations on Newark flights to address ongoing delays.

The FAA last year relocated control of the Newark airspace

to Philadelphia to address staffing and congested New York City

area traffic. The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers

below targeted staffing levels.