Chaos at Newark Liberty International Airport frustrates airlines and worries travelers

Travelers flying to and from Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey are increasingly concerned about recent problems, but especially about two outages that disrupted communications between air traffic controllers and pilots in the past two weeks.

The airport is one of the busiest in the United States , handling nearly 49 million passengers last year from the New York metropolitan area, the most populous in the country. Runway construction and a shortage of air traffic control personnel have led to an increase in cancellations and delays in recent days.

However, communication disruptions between pilots and air traffic control shocked travelers, leaving some to question whether flying from the airport is safe. Around 4:00 a.m. local time on Friday (0800 GMT), a facility that guides air traffic in and out of the airport suffered a 90-second outage, following an incident on April 28 that lasted the same amount of time.

"It's a little concerning that this is the second outage in less than 30 days," said Mikhail Liverpool, 37, of New Jersey, who said his flight to Georgia was delayed four hours . "The fact that they didn't fix the problem the first time is concerning, to say the least."

Newark was the preferred airport for Mark Nelson, a systems engineer at Siemens Healthineers, who travels for work and personal reasons. However, after the two incidents, he said he has decided to avoid it.

"If the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) or someone tells you it's safe to fly out of Newark, don't believe them," he said.

The airport was already considered a headache for travelers . Last year, JD Power ranked it lowest in overall customer satisfaction among North American mega-airports.

The disruptions have worsened. Since May 1, cancellations have soared to an average of 49 flights per day, compared to four at the beginning of April, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. Departure punctuality has fallen to 63%, well below industry standards of around 80%.

Allison Miles, 34, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, said she now plans to avoid Newark after her flight from Houston was delayed more than eight hours. "I'm probably going to stay home a lot this year because until they fix this, I'm not going out," she said.

The FAA is scheduled to meet Wednesday with major airlines, including United Airlines UAL.O, the largest carrier at Newark, to discuss temporary flight cuts at the airport.

United eliminated about 10% of its daily flights to Newark and waived change fees and fare differences for customers affected by the disruptions.

The FAA moved airspace control from Newark to Philadelphia last year to address staffing shortages and traffic congestion in the New York area .