US plans to reduce flights at Newark Airport as air traffic control problems mount

[BumRushDaShow]

4. They never really fully recovered after Raygun fired that initial set

and due to the mandatory retirement age, they were continually short-staffed. At least over the past 20 or so years, there are "feeders" from the military who had experience from the various wars (something they didn't have during the '80s other than the-then starting to age-out Vietnam War vets), but the air traffic has increased quite a bit over that time too, despite the consolidation of the airlines.

Some interesting tracking here - https://crp.trb.org/acrpwebresource12/understanding-air-service-and-regional-economic-activity/how-has-air-service-changed-over-time/

(since that org was formed by the FAA I am guessing it has been DOGEd and gutted now)