After three days of meetings with airline executives, the Federal Aviation Administration has a proposal to reduce the number of aircraft operations at Newark Liberty International Airport. The proposal is part of the agency's response to the ongoing delays and cancellations that have resulted from tech difficulties in the air traffic control tower. The FAA is proposing a maximum arrivals rate of 28 flights per hour through June 15 while one of the airport's runways is under construction. After that, the maximum arrivals rate should increase to 34 per hour through Oct. 25. According to a letter previously released by United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, who cited the FAA, Newark is designed to handle 77 departures and arrivals per hour at its peak, but airlines routinely schedule more flights than that. The new proposed arrivals rate is well below that maximum capacity, although the FAA said in a press release that the actual rate won't be finalized until May 28. The FAA said that United Airlines (which operates a major hub at Newark), Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air all participated in the meetings. "Reducing the number of flights scheduled at Newark will help ensure that we can safely and reliably operate the flights that remain on the schedule," United Airlines told USA TODAY in a statement. "For the first quarter of 2025 Newark was the most on-time airport in the New York area and we are confident that the steps taken by Sec. Duffy, including his leadership on matching the airport’s capacity to its operational limitations, will have it back operating reliably soon." These scheduling meetings were held in the wake of ongoing scrutiny of air traffic control at Newark. An April 28 radio and radar outage prompted a handful of controllers to take trauma leave, reducing the control tower's ability to handle incoming traffic. Since then, delays and cancellations have become the norm at the airport, and airlines and industry watchers have been calling for tighter regulation of Newark's airspace. Meanwhile, the FAA and the Department of Transportation have promised upgrades to the national air traffic control system, beginning with Newark, though those will likely take years to fully implement. The FAA said it has already begun work on adding redundant telecommunications equipment, which has been at the center of the failures. It is also planning longer term technology upgrades as well as working on boosting hiring of controllers nationwide. Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.