Newark Halts Flights Over Shutdown Staffing Issues

A ground stop was issued at Newark Liberty International Airport on Wednesday afternoon due to “staffing issues” as the historic government shutdown continues.

The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights at the major East Coast hub at 3 p.m. local time and stated it would last until 4:15 p.m., according to NBC4.

The ground stop was lifted shortly after — with a ground delay now in place through 11 p.m., according to an FAA advisory.

Passengers can expect flights to be delayed by an average of 40 minutes, the agency said.

Air traffic controllers, who are considered essential workers, have been working grueling work weeks without pay since the shutdown began on Oct. 1st.

Some controllers have called out sick and picked up second jobs to pay the bills.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters Tuesday that 44% of Sunday’s flight delays, and around 24% on Monday, were a direct result of air traffic controller staffing issues.

Those figures represent a sharp increase from about 5% of the total airport delays previously this year.

Democrats voted for the 13th time on Tuesday to keep the federal government shuttered, with the negotiations seemingly going nowhere.

“This is horrible and totally unnecessary,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X in reaction to the ground stop.

“President Trump continues to call on Democrats to vote for the clean CR to OPEN the government,”

The Garden State airport was upended into chaos over the spring and summer, with hundreds of flight cancellations, air traffic controller shortages, technology glitches, and runway construction.

In late April, air traffic controllers at a facility in Philadelphia who were tasked with guiding planes to and from Newark Airport faced dark radar screens for at least 30.

The FAA dramatically cut the number of flights coming in and out of Newark in May to ease the strain on controllers.

“The situation at EWR (Newark) is not fixable. This airport needs to be torn down,” one user fumed on X after the latest ground stop.

“Newark is a massive, massive hub. If this kind of stuff happens into November when Thanksgiving travel starts, there will be a lot of angry travelers,” journalist Jake Sherman wrote on X.