United Airlines is calling on the FAA to issue slots at Newark Liberty Airport to control access at a time when it's unable to handle the traffic it is generating. In a statement, United CEO Scott Kirby suggested it as a way to restore order at Newark, which has seen hundreds of delays and cancellations over the last week as a combination of technical issues and an unofficial walkout of 20 percent of controllers boiled over into a full-blown crisis. Kirby said he endorses the plans announced last week to overhaul the ATC system but in the meantime he wants the FAA to designate Newark "a slot controlled Level 3 airport." There are only three other airports where all landings and takeoffs require a slot and those are La Guardia, JFK and Washington Reagan. "By using the authority it has, the FAA can help Newark fulfill its incredible potential to be a safe, reliable and efficient gateway to the world for the American traveling public," Kirby said.
I can understand local people wanting to use Newark for flights. What I can’t understand is why anyone, knowing what is going on, would want to do a flight that connects through Newark. And what about ADS-B? One of the promises made to get operators to equip is the more efficient, therefore more volume of traffic. Obviously that promise is not working out, leaving those airplane owners with little to show for the thousands of dollars invested in ADS-B out.
That’s a bit of a shallow and misguided view of ADS-B. ADS-B and the NextGen program as a whole have achieved real-time precision, shared situational awareness, and advanced applications for pilots and controllers alike. But it is not autonomous. Sufficient human interface and infrastructure is still required and there is where the problem lies. Not enough people and ground equipment to monitor and direct the traffic = less volume allowed.