According to the union, air traffic controllers temporarily lost communications with the plane at Newar Liberty International Airport last week.
“We temporarily lost communication between the radar and the aircraft, and were unable to communicate, listen, listen and speak,” Galen Munro, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Control Association union, said on April 28, at the controller of the Philadelphia Air Traffic Control Center, which is responsible for separating and sequencing aircraft inside and outside Newark Airport.
He didn't say how long the confusion lasted, but Bloomberg reported it was 90 seconds. The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The breakdown of communications led to hundreds of delays and cancellations and three dozen flight detours that day, resulting in three dozen flight detours, according to Aidan O'Donnell, general manager of the New Jersey Airports for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He added that he did not depart or land from Newark for two hours that afternoon.
Munro said the controller was absent under the Federal Employee Compensation Act as a result of the loss of communication. Munro said in a statement.
The disclosure comes as the second week of airport disruption caused by understaffing, runway construction and inclement weather.
One of Newark's three runways has been closed for construction, and air traffic control centres across the country have experienced a shortage of staff. United said last week it was forced to cut 35 round-trip flights per day from Newark's schedule.
The low clouds on Monday prompted the FAA to pause flights heading for Newark, leading to an average delay of four hours, exacerbating travel disruptions at one of the country's busiest airports. More than 200 flights coming and going to Newark were late Monday morning, according to tracking site FlightAware.
Travelers whose flights were cancelled at Newark's Main United Terminal on Monday expressed their dissatisfaction that they were being directed at online customer service agents.
Phyllis Dotzen Rod said she hopes to return to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina after visiting her son in Manhattan, but her flight was cancelled after arriving at the airport. Her son was leaving for Asia, but she didn't know what to do, she said.
“I'm feeling stressed right now,” Dotzen Rod said she was waiting in line at the Terminal C help desk, which she closed when she arrived in front of the line. “Now I don't know where else to go.”
In addition to her frustration, she said she was given a meal and a hotel voucher but couldn't understand how to display it on her phone.
Judith Davis, whose flight back to Columbus, Ohio was cancelled due to bad weather, said he had been waiting for a customer service agent on the phone for 45 minutes. She was among travelers desperately searching for an alternative flight at Terminal C on Monday.
“I'm very upset and I need to come back today,” Davis said, expressing his dissatisfaction with the terminal's lack of help. “You're left to yourself to try to understand that.”
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer on Monday called on the inspector's office to investigate Newark's issues by saying safety issues and outdated techniques were needed to investigate Newark's issues.
“To say there is a slight turbulence between Newark Airport and the FAA, an understatement this year,” minority leader Schumer said at a press conference. “We're here because the FAA is really confused.”
He said Newark's issues could be a “preservation if these issues were not fixed.” He condemned mismanagement in the FAA, cutting cuts imposed by the Trump administration on staffing issues and warned that other airports in the country could experience similar issues if they weren't addressed.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates New York Airport and Kennedy International and LaGuardia Airports, said in a statement Monday that the lack of staffing at the Air Traffic Control Center is responsible.
“The Port Authority has invested billions to modernize Newar Liberty, but these improvements are entirely dependent on staff and the modern federal air traffic system,” the Port Authority said. “We continue to urge the FAA to address the ongoing staffing shortages and accelerate long-term technology upgrades that continue to cause delays in the country's busiest air corridor.”
In a statement Friday, Scott Kirby, chief executive of United Airlines, Newark's biggest airline, said the recent flight cancellations resulted in equipment failures, and 20% of airport air traffic controllers have been “finished work.”
As a result, he added, “we have dozens of repurposed flights, hundreds of delayed and cancelled flights, and, in the worst case, thousands of customers who have destroyed their travel plans.”
About 68% of the more than 3,300 scheduled departures at Newark were sold by United this week, according to air data company Cirium.
Paul Rinaldi, former president of the National Air Traffic Control Association, senior vice president of the operation and safety of American airlines, a trade organisation, said the system administrators were not working “at the optimum level.”
“This issue has been a lack of confidence from the system's controllers as it has been interrupted over the past eight months or so,” he said.
It is not clear when the delay will be resolved, and bad weather is likely to contribute to travelers' headaches at Newark and other metro airports.
A Delta spokesperson said the airline had cancelled three regional round-trip flights in Newark due to air traffic control restrictions. Passengers on these flights were automatically rebooked for flights at LaGuardia and Kennedy airports.
However, these airports were also affected by the weather. Inbound and outgoing flights on Laguardia had a delay of about an hour due to low clouds.
Clouds and rain could limit flights in and out of the area until mid-week. The rain could increase the intensity on Monday, and some thunderstorms are also possible. Shower chances remain on Wednesday.
Judson Jones and Niraj Chokshi contributed the report.
