United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has sent a memo to employees seeking to assuage safety fears over Newark Liberty International Airport that have been swirling in the news over the last several days, as the busy New Jersey airport has grappled with congestion and air traffic controller shortages. His solution, not surprisingly, is slot controls.

United Airlines CEO: Newark Airport Is Safe, But We Need Slot Controls

Let’s take a look at Kirby’s full note to employees today, shared with Live And Let’s Fly:

Team,

Newark remains in the news and many of you likely saw my customer message last Friday – some of the news coverage and social commentary is accurate and some misleading so I thought I should try to clear things up for all of you.

First and most importantly, all the flights in and out of EWR are absolutely safe. When there are FAA issues – technology outages, staffing shortages, etc. – the FAA requires all airlines to slow down aircraft and/or cancel flights to maintain the highest levels of safety.

We do our part to maintain safety as well. As you all know, our pilots have thousands of hours of flight experience and supplement that with regular simulator training – we also have procedures that our pilots follow to re-establish communication if controllers lose radio contact to navigate the airplane safely to its destination.

In short, neither the FAA nor United pilots will ever compromise on safety.

But when the FAA has technology outages or staffing shortages, it does lead to delays and cancellations for our customers and *that’s* the issue we’re determined to solve for the long-term.

EWR is a crown jewel of the region and an international gateway for the United States – close to 50 million people flew through EWR last year – but the truth is there are more flights scheduled there than the FAA can handle.

In ideal weather, with full staffing and with perfectly functioning technology, the FAA tells us that the airport can only handle 77 flights per hour. And yet, the FAA regularly approves schedules of 80+ flights per hour almost every day between 3:00pm and 8:00pm. This math doesn’t work. Especially when there is weather, staffing issues or technology breakdowns – the airspace, taxiways, and runways get backed up and gridlock occurs.

How can that continually happen at EWR?

Well, every other large capacity constrained airport in the world uses slots to make sure that the number of scheduled flights in any given hour does not exceed the airport’s maximum capacity. And EWR is the only large airport in the world that no longer has this basic common-sense rule (in 2016, the FAA de-slotted EWR).

We try to do our part to address these constraints: we regularly reduce our own schedules (we just cut another 35 flights to relieve pressure and give the FAA more flexibility to catch up), we’ve invested in infrastructure and technology to make our operation more efficient, and we have upgauged our flights by 20% to give our customers more seats per aircraft.

But we can’t do it alone. Other airlines simply backfill our flying when we reduce our schedule.

In reality, only the FAA can actually fix EWR. And here are the steps to make it happen:

1. Limit the airport to 48 flights / hour while the runway is under construction (this is underway);
2. Return EWR to a Level 3 slot controlled airport – this is the ONLY way to achieve 77 flights per hour;
3. Modernize the ATC system;
4. And get EWR ATC fully staffed.

It’s long past time to treat EWR like the crown jewel that it is. It was a mistake to de-slot the airport in 2016 – every single data point says so – and we’ll continue to work closely with the FAA and DOT to get EWR fixed once and for all and deliver the country the first-class air traffic system it deserves.

Scott

Kirby’s Understandably Self-Serving Call For Slot Controls

One can hardly blame Kirby for demanding that slot control return to Newark, though I’d be careful what you wish for: if slot limitations are reintroduced, United might find itself ceding some of its dominance to other carriers in the name of competition.

Kirby contends, “We regularly reduce our own schedules (we just cut another 35 flights to relieve pressure and give the FAA more flexibility to catch up), we’ve invested in infrastructure and technology to make our operation more efficient, and we have upgaugeed our flights by 20% to give our customers more seats per aircraft,” and he’s right that United should not have to reduce flights alone (other carriers should have to bear the pain of runway construction and ATC shrotages as well).

But on the other hand, as the dominant carrier in Newark trying to become an even more premium carrier, operational performance is essential, and if runway and air traffic control conditions lead to daily delays exceeding 40% of flights, something has to change, regardless of what your competitors do.

United’s operational performance in Newark is unacceptable and it won’t get any better in the weeks ahead without flight cutbacks.

We’ve seen a lot of unhelpful and sensational headlines in the media about Newark Airport:

Yes, Drudge, this is a “national embarrassment,” but there’s a difference between a situation being embarrassing and dangerous.

I’ve had multiple Award Expert clients (my consulting service) ask me about whether Newark is safe and my answer is yes…but expect delays.

CONCLUSION

Kirby is again calling for slot controls at Newark Airport, arguing the airport is too congested and United should not have to cutback flights alone. If I were Kirby, my concern is that slot controls will mean United has to restrict flying even more at Newark. The long-term solution is clear: invest in infrastructure, both at the airport and in air traffic control towers. But expect a lot of pain between today and reaching that point…