Newark airport ground stop due to 'equipment outage' lifted by FAA

The latest on Newark airport equipment failures

FOX 5 NY's Duarte Geraldino provides updates on the status of flights at the Newark airport after recent communication breakdowns.

NEWARK - The ground stop the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) put into place at Newark Liberty International Airport earlier this morning has been lifted, according to Newark airport.

Another equipment shortage

What we know:

An air traffic control equipment outage caused the ground stop on May 11. This shortage comes after a 90-second-long radar outage on Friday, May 9 and a similar incident on April 28.

"The FAA briefly slowed aircraft in and out of the airport while we ensured redundancies were working as designed," the administration said in a statement.

About 67 flights are delayed and over 70 have been canceled at Newark airport as of 11 a.m. today, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

Atlanta ground stop lifted

The FAA had also issued a separate ground stop for all flights to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on May 11. This ground stop was due to a runway equipment issue, separate from the situation in Newark, according to the FAA website.

Schumer speaks on the issue

What they're saying:

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer held a press conference to speak on the recent issues Newark airport has been facing.

Schumer noted that the delays and cancellations that occur at Newark airport have a rippling effect that goes on to affect flights throughout the entire country.

He specifically called on the FAA during the press conference. "The FAA must put Newark first," Schumer said. "All hands on deck at the FAA."

Schumer also called on Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to provide a timetable and cost for his plan to help Newark airport.

Transportation Sec. Duffy chimes in

The Transportation Secretary spoke about the situation on NBC's "Meet the Press," acknowledging the strain these outages are putting on air traffic controllers.

"We lost a few controllers that were stressed out by the first connectivity that we lost last week."

FOX 5 NY's Duarte Geraldino reports that Duffy plans to hold a meeting with every single airline that does business at Newark airport; the plan is to discuss how many flights should be cut to reduce the stress on the air traffic control system.

He also said that a new communications line is being built to link Newark airport directly to Philadelphia TRACON.

"We think by the end of the summer, it should be completed."

Duffy unveiled his first plan to alleviate the issues plaguing the nation's air traffic control system on May 8, only a few days earlier, as well as a package to "boost the air traffic controller workforce" earlier this month.