The travel chaos at Newark Liberty International Airport continued Wednesday, but with fewer cancellations and delays as officials work to resolve issues.

Newark Liberty International Airport

The situation at Newark Liberty International Airport has shown signs of improvement, with a notable decrease in flight delays and cancellations. Earlier, more than 150 flights faced delays, but currently, there are only 35 delays and 85 cancellations. While the airport is still experiencing issues due to an ongoing air traffic controller shortage, the situation is more manageable, with fewer stressed-out travelers and long queues.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is taking steps to address these concerns by slowing down arrivals and departures. Transportation Secretary Duffy recently testified that a comprehensive overhaul of the air traffic control system is necessary and is in the planning stages. The FAA aims to hire 2,000 air traffic controllers this year but acknowledges a need for 3,000, suggesting that improvements may take a while to fully manifest.

Despite the operational challenges, passengers appear to be navigating checkpoints smoothly. Many travelers at the airport are prepared with required identification such as real IDs or passports, contributing to a streamlined process at security checks. Both Terminal C and Terminal A have reported no significant congestion, indicating a more efficient flow of travelers.



Cancellations, delays decrease at Newark airport

Well, Reid, here's some good news. I can tell you, we talked two days ago on Monday, and there was probably more than 150 flights that were delayed at that point. But here's the good news. Today, at this hour, only 35 delays, 85 cancellations. We are by no means out of the woods, but we have seen a significant improvement here at Newark Airport. And not a lot of stressed out people, not a lot of long lines. My producer flew in last night from Chicago. She was delayed two hours, to put it in perspective. She sat on the tarmac for about an hour. But today, it seems like we're seeing the delays that just aren't as long. Again, this is not going to be fixed overnight. We have that severe air traffic controller shortage. So they're going to have to work on that. But right now, I can tell you, I'm starting to see an improvement here at Newark. We love to see any signs of improvement that we can get. But we do know that the FAA is, you know, newly minted in the Trump administration. And they say that there's some changes that have to be made. How are they responding, and other agencies, to these delays? That's right. So the FAA, they have been slowing arrivals and departures to try to deal with all of these problems. We heard from the Transportation Secretary Duffy yesterday at the White House. Let's listen to what he had to say and talk about it on the other side. This administration has come in, and it was shortly after the DCA air crash, that I started to look at the air traffic control system. And very quickly, I saw one piece of the pie where there was issues, and then scratched further, and there's another piece of the pie. And as we looked at it, we see that the whole system needs to be redone. We need to build a brand new air traffic control system. And it was about six weeks ago, I presented that plan to the president. The president has signed off on this plan. So basically, what we heard there is that they want to accelerate improving the infrastructure and hiring more air traffic controllers. We know that they are on track to hire 2,000 new air traffic controllers this year, but Reed, they need 3,000. So this is just a problem that is going to persist well into the summer travel months, and we're just going to have to see how this plays out. Well, something that unites everybody behind you, and that is the need starting today to get that new real ID. What are you hearing from the people who are going through the turnstiles there? Okay, so Reed, take a look behind me. You don't really see a lot of people, right? It only takes two minutes to get through this standard checkpoint right here. I talked to several airline employees about the morning rush hour crunch. They said there were really no problems, no long lines. People came prepared. They have been listening to us on CBS News 24-7. They had their real IDs, and if they didn't have that, they had a passport. If you don't have a real ID, you can still get through security. You just have to go through some extra steps. We're in Terminal C, which is usually the busiest terminal, and so we thought maybe this is just an anomaly. So my producer ran over to Terminal A, same thing over there. No long lines. Everyone's moving through. It's been smooth sailing.

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