May 15 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration

plans a third day of talks on Friday with airlines to

temporarily reduce flights at New Jersey's Newark Liberty

International Airport after completing an intensive day of

discussions seeking to reduce delays, officials said on

Thursday.

The FAA held four rounds of individual meetings with air

carriers to win concessions to cut flights at specific times as

the airport deals with a chaotic series of equipment outages,

runway construction and staffing issues.

Airline officials told Reuters that FAA officials say they

are making progress but they still have not reached an agreement

on cutting flights at prime flying times.

The officials add they expect major cargo carriers and

Canadian airlines to join the discussions, and they may be asked

to cut or move flights from congested periods.

"The airport clearly is unable to handle the current

level of scheduled operations," the FAA said in a notice issued

ahead of the meeting, adding it believes the proposal "would

reduce overscheduling, flight delays, and cancellations to an

acceptable level."

The FAA also cited ongoing runway construction at Newark

that regularly forces the cancellation of dozens of flights

daily and delays hundreds more.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Delay

Reduction Meeting is the first in more than 20 years.

"Families shouldn't be going to Newark and waiting five

hours for a flight that then gets canceled," he said.

United Airlines has sharply cut flights at its

Newark hub and wants the FAA to impose new limitations on

flights there to address ongoing delays. United said on Tuesday

it expects to temporarily cut a few additional flights.

The FAA last year relocated control of Newark's airspace

to Philadelphia to address staffing and congested New York

City-area traffic.

Nationwide, the regulator is about 3,500 air traffic

controllers below targeted staffing levels, and some controllers

overseeing Newark took stress leave following a serious April 28

outage.