America travels for Thanksgiving: Live updates | CNN

United Airlines said the shortage in the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control staffing has led to “significant disruption” for its passengers at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, according to a new memo released Tuesday.

The major US airline said that more than 343,000 of its travelers this month dealt with delays, cancellations, long taxi times and longer flight times at Newark — which it attributes to FAA’s understaffing.

United said that on November 15 alone, nearly 2,000 of its customers were impacted by canceled flights. Nearly 25,000 United customers were disrupted by gate delays and taxi or air delays that day, according to United.

On Saturday alone, nearly 46,000 of its customers faced gate delays, taxiing or air delays, United said.

Mike Whitaker, FAA administrator, acknowledged that staffing issues affecting the Newark airspace could force the agency to slow air traffic over the holiday travel period.

In a response provided to CNN, the FAA said that hiring more air traffic controllers is “a top priority.”

“Specifically in the Newark airspace, the FAA is addressing a decades-long issue of staffing and has been transparent with airlines and travelers about our plan,” the agency said.