NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) — Air traffic controllers guiding planes bound for Newark Liberty International Airport lost radar and radio communication for more than a minute early last week before flights at the key hub were snarled for days, according to people familiar with the matter.
The outage of those key systems occurred on April 28 and lasted nearly 90 seconds, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the matter because it isn’t public. Following the incident, multiple employees were placed on trauma leave, the people said.
The incident and resulting reduction in staffing contributed to a week of flight delays and cancellations at Newark airport that pushed United Airlines Holdings Inc. to cut 35 daily round trips at the key hub, its biggest for international departures and a primary gateway for domestic flights…