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Newark airport fans – and there are a few – grinning at New Yorkers who prefer a Crawl East of Traffic Jam to fly from JFK instead of Hop West across the Hudson River. Their New Jersey hub is no longer aside as it has become a side word for delay and chaos. But Newark’s biggest customers have so far benefited from consistent message delivery.
The disruption in Newark comes from communications between the air traffic controller and the plane they were leading for more than a minute, from the loss on April 28th. The confusion then reached hundreds of flights. Newark is United Airlines’ New York area base with approximately three-quarters of the airport’s slots. Last week, Air Traffic Control (ATC) was unable to handle the volume, reducing 35 scheduled daily round trips.
However, since the suspension, United’s shares have grown more than 15%, with similar profits from rivals American and Delta Air Lines. The problem is that it is widely understood that it is not the airline but the Federal Aviation Administration. On Wednesday, U.S. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy designated a Newark amendment. The next day he presented plans to modernize the ATC and asked Congress for an unspecified amount.
United have also been helped by boss Scott Kirby’s years of candidness on air traffic issues. In March he outlined the revisions he felt were needed for the ATC. This denounced two-thirds of United’s delay, even on a good day. In 2022, he blamed it for half the United’s flight delays. Kirby’s reputation for Frank Talking has earned investors praise for other issues. Last month he gave two estimates of 2025 revenues (recession and stability) when others cited economic uncertainty and refused to give anything.
United stocks rose 5% on Thursday, trading more than seven times the expected revenue from four times in April.
Few people with US experience struggle to blame Newark’s creaking infrastructure. Even if Duffy gets unspecified billions, it will take years to fix the system. In the meantime, US airlines will bear additional costs that they have to carry around to deal with longer retention patterns on busy days, from flights that cannot operate to extra fuel aircraft. United need all the straight talk and clear communication that it can get.
jennifer.hughes@ft.com
