The FAA has imposed a temporary cap of 28 hourly departures and 28 hourly arrivals at Newark Airport.
The cap, implemented in an interim order on May 20, aligns with a proposal the agency put forward following three days of meetings last week with domestic airlines that operate in Newark. The FAA decided not to wait until completion of a final order, which it had said would come no earlier than May 28.
United CEO Scott Kirby earlier this month said that Newark is capable of handing a combined 77 arrivals and departures per hour during normal operations, so the new 56-flight cap is a 27% reduction from normalcy. However, Newark hasn't been operating at a normal level in recent weeks.
A combination of runway repairs, a shortage of air traffic controllers and technology problems have sharply curtailed how much traffic Newark can support. A resulting rash of cancellations and delays have plagued the airport, and hub carrier United voluntarily trimmed its schedule by 35 flights per day in response.
The interim flight cap applies to arrivals and departures each day from 6 a.m. until 10:59 p.m. through June 15, when daily construction on one of Newark's three runways will convert to Saturday-only work. At that point, the cap will increase to 34 arrivals and 34 departures per hour through Oct. 25, except on Saturdays, when it will remain at 28.
In the interim order, the FAA noted that by May 16, when it wrapped up three days of meetings with United, Delta, JetBlue, American, Alaska, Spirit and Allegiant, the airlines had agreed to schedule reductions that nearly reached the FAA's proposed targets.
Foreign airlines also have been encouraged to reduce their Newark schedules. Any cutbacks they make could impact the FAA's final order on Newark operations.