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If you have traveled through Newark Liberty International Airport this spring and summer, you have almost certainly felt the pain of what the industry has been dealing with as air travel reaches pre-pandemic levels. Transportation Security Administration figures show more than 2 million travelers hitting airports on average each day.

“There’s supply chain issues. And there’s the cost of fuel. They’re trying to get workers. They’re trying to get the pilots’ seniority sorted out with so many retirements and people gone for long periods of time on leave. And so much of that together with this incredible demand hitting it all at the same time,” Kathleen Bangs, spokesperson for FlightAware, told NJBIZ.

And Bangs explained that airlines were forced to go into self-protection mode during the pandemic, which led to a reshuffling of the pilot order and seniority with many taking extended leave or early retirement. That reorganization has naturally led to some residual issues as pent-up travel demand explodes throughout the country.

Combine that with many of the other challenges that most businesses are facing, and you have something of a perfect storm.

In June, the drama grew as Newark Airport finished the month with the highest percentage of cancellations and third-highest percentage of delays of any airport in the country. “There’s days right now that we’ve reached the same limits of 2019 or even more,” said Bangs. “So, we’re actually moving the same amount of people through TSA with less airplanes.”

Also in June, United Airlines announced that effective July 1, it would remove 50 departures from its Newark schedule to ease congestion at the airport. “After the last few weeks of irregular operations in Newark, caused by many factors including airport construction, we reached out to the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] and received a waiver allowing us to temporarily adjust our schedule for the remainder of the summer,” Jon Roitman, executive vice president and chief operations officer, wrote in an email to employees. “Even though we have the planes, pilots, crew and staff to support our Newark schedule, this waiver will allow us to remove about 50 daily departures which should help minimize excessive delays and improve on-time performance – not only for our customers, but for everyone flying through Newark.”

United said the decision has helped to improve performance. “Travel demand in Newark has never been stronger and we will continue to partner with the FAA and Port Authority so we can reinstate these 50 daily departures and revert to a full schedule from Newark as soon as possible,” a United spokesperson told NJBIZ.

“The Port Authority continues to work closely with the airlines and the FAA to improve overall efficiency and the customer experience at Newark Liberty International Airport, particularly with the recent rise in summer travel volumes post-pandemic, the disruptive impact of severe seasonal weather on the flight schedules, and operational challenges facing all stakeholders due in part to staffing shortages that are not unique to our industry,” James Gill, general manager of New Jersey airports at The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told NJBIZ in a statement.

“As part of the that effort, the agency has made significant runway construction and repair investments in recent years and has initiated new programs to help reduce delays, including the installation of high-speed taxiways that move planes more quickly on and off runways,” Gill continued.

The FAA did not respond to a request for comment.

The air travel system was fragile before the addition of the new variables along with the daily challenge of weather, which has the ultimate say. Bangs said it’s a frustrating time for travelers with cancellations nationally ticking up to just under 3%, which may not look like a huge number but is nonetheless significant.

“It’s from like 1.6% to 2.9%, but that translates into thousands of flights. But I think what’s really irritating passengers also are the delays,” said Bangs. “On any given day, 1 out of 5 , sometimes 1 out of 4 flights are delayed an average of about 50 minutes, which is enough time to miss that connecting flight. And then there is no other connection you can get on.”

And certainly, Newark tends to be on the wrong side of those trends, which FlightAware charts in its MiseryMap.

“Well Newark is certainly high, and the FAA is aware of that,” said Bangs.

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She said the ongoing issues led the FAA to bring in more air traffic controllers to help move flights along.

The issues came to a head on the Independence Day holiday weekend as airports were slammed. Bangs said many of the major airlines also pared a percentage of their schedules to try and avoid drama over the highly publicized travel weekend. “Nobody wanted to have an operational meltdown over the Fourth of July because it would be so visible,” said Bangs. “I think everybody realized there was a big risk going into the Fourth if they didn’t pare back those schedules.”

Over that weekend, Newark had the highest percentage of cancellations and the 10th-highest percentage of delays. As travelers griped on social media, airlines faced many of the headlines they were hoping to avoid over the busy holiday weekend.

Notably, airlines and federal officials at the FAA and U.S. Department of Transportation have been blaming each other as tensions boil over. Airlines have called on federal officials to enforce rules that limit the number of flights to those that an airport can handle as well as boosting staff in air traffic control towers. Federal officials have been quick to fire back.

The FAA responded to criticism from United about needing more air traffic control staff, saying there were no FAA-staffing related delays over the holiday weekend, and called out the airlines for canceling more than 1,000 flights, noting that a quarter were United flights.

Bangs said the finger-pointing is unprecedented.

“So, you have this circle of blame and deflection which we’ve never really seen before,” she said. “Everybody’s out both barrels.”

“I think the airlines realize they’re being incredibly scrutinized right now,” she added.

While many of these challenges remain, Bangs said there is reason for some optimism. “I think we’ve probably, hopefully seen the worst of it, knock on wood,” said Bangs. “We never know what’s going to happen because we’ve had our last big holiday for the summer. Once we hit Labor Day and put that behind us, demand naturally drops because the kids are back in school.”

She pointed out that prices in the fall are already dropping in anticipation of that demand going down.

But Bangs acknowledged that the industry is on a “ragged edge,” and that any significant weather disruption could really strain the system.

“Newark Liberty customers are strongly encouraged to check with their carriers on flight status and to visit the agency’s Travel Tips page prior to visiting the airport,” Gill said.