NBAA Urges Strategic Thinking, Decision-Making in Navigating Northeastern Airspace Challenges
| Washington, DC, May 14, 2025 – While the National Airspace System (NAS) remains the world’s safest, recent equipment outages across one of the nation’s busiest sectors have rattled pilots and air traffic controllers (ATC) alike. As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) works to resolve these challenges across the Northeastern U.S., the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) urges business aviation flight crews to approach the situation with level heads and work strategically within established procedures. On May 12, Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy announced the formation of a “tiger team” task force dedicated to resolving issues in the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON Area C) sector that controls airspace overlying multiple New York City-area airports. Solutions in the works include adding three new, high-bandwidth feeds between the New York-based Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) and the Philadelphia TRACON to provide greater speed, reliability and redundancy. The FAA is also deploying a temporary backup system to maintain communications, with plans for a dedicated STARS hub for the Philadelphia location. Additional controllers are also part of the solution. The FAA noted Area C currently has 27 fully certified controllers and supervisors on duty, with an additional 21 in training. Of the latter, 10 are receiving on-the-job training to cover additional sectors but are already certified on at least one position, with three certified on multiple positions. In the near term, however, flight crews should expect possible traffic management initiatives in the region, which may impact operations to and from some of the area’s busiest general aviation airports including New Jersey’s Essex County Airport (CDW), Morristown (MMU) and Teterboro (TEB). “NBAA is in direct dialogue with the FAA to work through this situation,” said Heidi Williams, NBAA senior director of air traffic services and infrastructure. “We encourage business aviation flight crews to consider their alternatives before wheels up. Think strategically, as always, but remain flexible in your plans.” For example, congestion at TEB may drive crews to file Westchester County Airport (HPN) as an alternate, leading to similar delays at that New York airport. “Consider and plan for additional alternatives outside the immediate area or drop and go operations could be an option,” Williams said. “Pilots may also consider tankering additional fuel in the event of delays or reroutes.” NBAA also urges pilots to utilize flight planning resources available from both NBAA and the agency. That includes subscribing to Airspace/Airport Alerts from NBAA Air Traffic Services, and staying updated on the status of the National Airspace System through nasstatus.faa.gov. Additionally, NBAA will host a live News Hour webinar early next week featuring expert guidance on the procedures and tools in place to manage operations in the near term and how to ensure business aviation flights in the sector support the highest levels of safety. Williams stressed crews should not attempt to deviate from established airspace procedures. “We recognize the challenges and strongly encourage crews to keep level heads, exercise patience and thorough preflight planning, and we’ll get through this together.” |
| Contact: Dan Hubbard, 202-431-5970, [email protected] |