On what is expected to be the busiest air travel day of the Thanksgiving holiday period this year, the Federal Aviation Administration is warning it plans to implement a ground ground delay program at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The FAA's airport status website lists a ground delay program at Newark Airport set to go into effect at 1 p.m. Wednesday. The FAA's advisory says it anticipates the average delay to last 95 minutes with the maximum delay lasting more than three hours.
As of 11:00 a.m., 100 flights arriving or departing from Newark are delayed Wednesday, according to FlightAware.
Wednesday is expected to be the busiest days at our nation's airports.
The Transportation Security Administration said it expects to screen a record 18.3 million people from Tuesday, Nov. 26 though Monday, Dec. 2, and that includes three million people on Wednesday.
AAA said it projects 5.84 million people will fly domestically this holiday season.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
A ground delay program would follow similar actions by the FAA on Monday and Tuesday at Newark Airport due to staffing shortages.
Local
According to United Airlines, the FAA has reduced traffic flows into Newark for 12 of the first 25 days in November impacting 343,000 of its passengers.
"The FAA needs more air traffic controllers. The FAA shortage has been especially acute at its TRACON center for Newark airspace, forcing it to reduce traffic flows to our Newark hub so that FAA can manage air traffic safely," United said in a statement to NBC New York.
In a statement to NBC New York on Monday, the FAA said, "The FAA is slowing traffic into Newark Liberty International Airport due to staffing issues at the Philadelphia TRACON (PHL)." Some of Newark's air traffic controllers are based in Philadelphia, explaining why the staffing shortages would impact the airport that is closer to New York City.
The FAA suggests passengers visit https://nasstatus.faa.gov/ for the latest air traffic information. Passengers should also check with their airline for the latest status of their flights into or out of the New York area.
