The U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG) is kicking off an audit surrounding the transfer of the terminal radar approach control (Tracon) responsibilities for Newark International Airport to a facility in Philadelphia.
This audit comes in the aftermath of a 90-second radar and radio contact blackout that Philadelphia controllers overseeing Newark airspace experienced on April 28 due to a burnt copper wire. That blackout was followed by another outage on May 9 due to failures of both primary and redundant communication infrastructure.
Last July, the FAA shifted the Newark responsibilities from the New York Tracon to Philadelphia, citing concerns about chronic understaffing at the New York facility, according to the OIG, which noted that Newark is one of the busiest airports in the U.S., with 24 million passengers transiting through in 2024.
However, the OIG added: “The outages have raised questions about FAA’s management of the relocation, including impacts on system redundancy, controller staffing and training, and operational resilience.” Given those concerns, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy asked the OIG to review the decision to relocate the responsibilities.
The watchdog plans to examine the FAA’s planning and risk assessment process and operational impact on flight delays, cancellations, and safety incidents. It expects to begin the audit next month.