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United will cancel 35 flights a day from New Jersey

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USDOT says old technology hindering flights

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Flight delays have long been issue at Newark airport

(Updates with Duffy statement, more on flights in paragraph 1,

headline)

By David Shepardson

May 2 (Reuters) - United Airlines CEO Scott

Kirby said on Friday that the carrier will begin canceling 35

flights a day - or about 10% - at its Newark hub starting this

weekend due to government equipment failures and air traffic

control staffing issues.

Throughout the week, United was forced to delay, cancel or

divert dozens of flights at its hub airport just outside New

York City, where it flies about 328 flights daily.

"Technology that FAA air traffic controllers rely on to

manage the airplanes coming in and out of Newark airport failed

- resulting in dozens of diverted flights, hundreds of delayed

and canceled flights and worst of all, thousands of customers

with disrupted travel plans," Kirby said in an email to

customers. "Unfortunately, the technology issues were compounded

as over 20% of the FAA controllers for (Newark) walked off the

job."

A union representing the controllers declined to comment as

did the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA last year relocated control of the Newark airspace

area to Philadelphia to address staffing and congested New York

City area traffic.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who intends to

propose a plan next week to fix badly crumbling air traffic

control infrastructure, visited the FAA Terminal Radar Approach

Control at Philadelphia on Friday.

"The technology that we are using is old. That's what is

causing the outages and delays we are seeing at Newark," Duffy

said.

On Thursday, Acting FAA Administrator Chris Rocheleau

said the agency has a team investigating the interruptions at

Newark. "We need to make sure the controllers have the proper

equipment and that they're obviously appropriately staffed," he

said.

Major U.S. airlines asked the FAA to extend cuts to minimum

flight requirements at congested New York City-area airports

through October 2027, citing severe air traffic controller

staffing shortages.

Under minimum flight requirements, airlines can lose their

takeoff and landing slots at congested airports if they do not

use them at least 80% of the time. The FAA's waiver allows

airlines to fly fewer flights and still retain slots.

The FAA is about 3,500 controllers short of targeted

staffing. A persistent shortage of controllers has delayed

flights and, at many facilities, controllers are working

mandatory overtime and six-day weeks.

United in November said it was forced to reduce traffic

there because of low FAA staffing on a dozen days, disrupting

more than 343,000 United travelers. It had already reduced

flights at Newark before Friday's announcement.