The breakdown that resulted in air traffic controllers losing communications with the pilots of planes they were guiding into Newark International Airport has happened at least two other times since August,

The long flight delays and cancellations plaguing Newark’s Liberty International Airport and spilling over to airports across the U.S. can be traced to a week ago when air traffic controllers temporarily lost communications with planes in the sky, according to the controllers union.

Another staffing trigger was issued at Newark International Airport as the FAA grapples with a dayslong air traffic control manpower shortage and the fallout from a radar equipment failure. Robert Sumwalt,