A critical hotline linking air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport with the Pentagon has been out of service since March 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed on Wednesday. Deputy FAA Air Traffic Control chief Franklin McIntosh told senators at a Commerce Committee hearing that the problem was only uncovered after air traffic controllers at

A hotline that directly connects the Pentagon to the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport hasn’t been operational since March 2022, an US Federal Aviation Administration official said.

A “hotline” between air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Pentagon intended to coordinate aircraft has not worked since March 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration revealed in a congressional hearing Wednesday.

The shortage on Monday forced the F.A.A. to delay flights to the busy airport for up to nearly seven hours, the latest problem to plague the airport.

In addition to the "incredibly old" air traffic control setup that's plaguing Newark Liberty International Airport, leading to frightening recent outages of the radar system used there, the New Jersey travel hub is also suffering from an air traffic controller shortage that's causing concern.