Spadeas and many NJ families brace for Newark Airport delays

It's that time of year again. When family and friends traverse the region, the nation, and in our case, the globe in order to make it to Thanksgiving dinner.

We are excited to see the kids of course, all coming to New Jersey from San Diego and London for a weeklong break with Mom and Dad. The challenge is that there are only 14,000 air traffic controllers who can handle more than 70,000 daily flights across the US.

We saw hundreds of delays over the weekend as travel steps up for those planning ahead and heading out early. For us, we are hoping that the weekend before the holiday is a better bet than the week of the holiday.

Either way, the FAA says it needs another 3,000 ATCs to meet the flight load and has only hired another 1,300 to 1,800. So the delays will definitely impact your holiday.

This past weekend saw a pre-Thanksgiving disaster at Newark Airport. More than 400 flights were delayed just on Saturday alone and 242 as of 6 p.m. Sunday night. There were delays of up to 160 minutes for incoming and outgoing flights.

The question is whether you will decide to drive, stay home, or just deal with the delays.

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