A screen displays information on cancelled flights at the Aeroparque International Jorge Newbery airport as Argentine air traffic controllers strike for improved working conditions and higher wages, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 26, 2025. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
Air traffic controllers unleashed swear words over "shoddy radios" at Newark Liberty International Airport on Thursday morning, facing multiple ground stops.
After an initial ground stop, just a few hours after flights began departing a second ground delay was issued, prompting an average delay of 2 1/2 hours for flights arriving.
NBC's Tom Costello spoke with air traffic control, who revealed that the Terminal Radar Control for Newark began experiencing radio issues, preventing them from communicating effectively with planes. While the current problem was limited to radios, in April, the radar control also experienced issues, both with radar and radio, for the airspace above the airport.
Costello explained that the ATC called it "shoddy radios and availability right now working the radios. They used another word too, but I'll let your imagination go with that. The bottom line is they say they had to hold every aircraft for about 30 minutes. They've since started allowing them to come in, but a handful of passenger planes had to actually divert to other airports in the region."
After Newark experienced disastrous problems in April and again in May, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy went so far as to change the flight from his own family to avoid Newark Airport, Politico reported.
Flying Magazine explained that previous problems were "due to a combination of staffing shortages, runway construction, and equipment issues that twice rendered controllers unable to receive communications and radar data for about 90 seconds."
In June, the FAA issued an order to limit the rate of arrivals and departures at the airport due to all of the problems.
According to The New York Times, air traffic controllers managing Newark's airspace have complained of equipment issues for years.
Over a month ago, Duffy said they would "audit" Newark. No new information has been released.
Earlier this month, Duffy announced one of his new priorities was to "fast-track" a plan to put a nuclear reactor on the moon.
"We have to, we have to marshal all of our resources, all of our focus on going to the moon, which is what we’re going to do," said Duffy.
See Costello's report below or at the link here.