(Bloomberg) — A runway at Newark Liberty International Airport that’s been under construction and is partially responsible for some of the disruptions there will reopen Monday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced Friday.
The project, which was originally slated to be completed by June 15, is 13 days ahead of schedule. The port authority was able to speed up the construction by “bringing in additional crews, expanding shifts, and enabling construction to take place 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” according to a statement from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and the port authority. US Transportation Department Secretary Sean Duffy also announced the news in a post to X.
The US Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight reductions at Newark after air traffic control systems outages and staffing shortages, paired with construction on one of the airport’s runways, disrupted operations at the airport. The FAA capped arrivals at the busy hub to 28 per hour through June 15, when it expected daily construction on the runway to end. That rate also applies to Saturdays through the end of 2025.
Outside of that construction period, 34 planes would be allowed to land each hour until Oct. 25. It’s unclear whether that higher rate will kick in sooner now that the runway is reopening ahead of schedule. The arrival rate is still lower than the normal level for the airport.
Thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed at Newark since April 28, when a radio and radar outage temporarily left air traffic controllers unable to communicate with or see aircraft flying in the congested airspace. Several controllers took trauma leave following the incident, creating a staffing shortage at the already-strained facility.
“With the runway completed, will continue our work to harden the telecoms infrastructure and improve the staffing pipeline for the airspace,” Duffy said in his post to X.
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