When Princeton students go home for the semester, they will have faced 12 weeks of intense classes, a lengthy reading period, and a newfangled exam schedule. Those who are flying will also face one last test: navigating the chaos at the Newark Liberty International Airport.
Newark has been facing disruptions for around two weeks amid a national air traffic controller shortage, leading to delays of up to five hours for some flights. On three separate occasions in the past two weeks, the airport has experienced equipment outages that left air traffic controllers unable to see, hear, or communicate with pilots.
Newark offers flights to around 200 destinations with around 40,000 passengers traveling through the airport each day.
Newark is the closest airport to campus and has a stop on New Jersey Transit’s Northeast Corridor Rail Line, which is accessible through the Dinky station. As Princeton students finish finals and papers for the Spring semester, they are also preparing to travel across the world for internships, independent research, or other opportunities.
The delays have potential to disrupt the travels of students, but some have not been significantly impacted.
Mary Ma ’26 told The Daily Princetonian that she usually does not fly from Newark, and experienced delays on both her flights to Boston and back to Newark recently.
“I don’t really plan on using Newark in the future,” she said.
Ma is the former Creative Director for The Daily Princetonian.
While Ma had not thought about the recent disruptions at Newark before making arrangements, another student, Kaden Knight ’28, told the ‘Prince’ he took it into account, though he kept his original flights.
“I was kind of expecting a delay, because I’ve heard about the Newark issues,” Knight said.
Knight explained that he considered switching his flight but, “I figured that I would be losing money, and I had nothing better to do that day than just stay at the airport and read books all day.”
Other students have taken action to prevent disruptions to their flights.
Thanhloan Tran ’27, who has a flight on May 28 to Los Angeles, was planning on flying from Newark but rebooked her flight upon hearing of the recent delays.
“I don’t use the airport as often because I’m from New Jersey, so I just take the train home.”
Tran was worried that she would have to change the dates of her trip because she had booked accommodations based on her flight, but she was able to switch her flight from Newark to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport on the same day. She says that her airline, JetBlue, let passengers cancel the flight for free, which she said she was surprised by but grateful for.
“At first, I was kind of scared, because I didn’t know if there were flights available at JFK, but it turned out there were a lot of flights available at JFK. So it was actually really easy.”
Ma and Tran told the ‘Prince’ they would usually take the train instead of flying but it may not be an option for other students. Due to negotiations between NJ Transit and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen that remain ongoing, a strike affecting all NJ Transit routes could begin as early as Friday, May 16.
Finals for this semester finish on Thursday, May 15, with students expected to move out of their dorms by noon on Friday, May 16. Reunions 2025 will occur from May 22–25, and seniors are required to move out by noon on May 28.
Cynthia Torres is an assistant News editor and an Archives contributor. She is from New Bedford, Mass. and typically covers University administration.
Christopher Bao and Victoria Davies contributed reporting.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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