It’s been awhile since the skies have been particularly friendly to air travelers. There is less legroom and fewer amenities on planes, and there are add-on costs for everything the major carriers think they can get away with.

Lately, though, particularly for travelers using Newark Liberty International Airport, things aren’t so friendly on the ground either. Waits in security lines of an hour or more are common during peak periods, with lines stretching from one end of the terminals to the other and, in some cases, down to the baggage claim areas a floor below to accommodate the backup. For many travelers, the lines have been more than a mere inconvenience. The delays have resulted in hundreds of people missing their flights.

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The waits have prompted calls by New Jersey’s federal and state legislators for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to do something to expedite the screening of passengers. The problem has been exacerbated in recent months by an increase in air traffic, a reduction in TSA staffing and stiffened security protocols in the wake of terrorist incidents in Europe.

Nationally, the TSA workforce has been reduced four consecutive years, and the manpower shortages have been aggravated by reductions in overtime. At Newark Liberty, 70 TSA positions have been eliminated since 2014. The TSA has requested that its workforce of 42,000 be increased by 1,000, but President Obama’s budget would add less than half that number. The union representing TSA workers wants an additional 3,000 workers.

New Jersey officials have been told by the TSA that staff will be added at Newark Liberty in time for the peak summer travel season, but no specific numbers or timetables have been provided.

Relief can’t come soon enough.

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Few would argue with the need to make passenger safety the top priority on the ground and in the air. But that requires providing adequate resources and competent management, neither of which has been on display at Newark Liberty. Not only is there a shortage of staff, but it isn’t being effectively deployed. The experiences at other airports are generally superior to those at Newark, where it isn’t uncommon to see TSA and airline staff standing around and doing little or nothing to manage the chaos stemming from the long lines.

Travelers at Newark Liberty in particular also have to wonder what is being done to provide security inside the check-in areas, where there is virtually no identifiable police presence. Most of the airline-related terrorist attacks have occurred in terminals not in the air.

At some point, you would think the hassle of flying would hurt airlines’ business. That’s not the case at Newark Liberty, in no small part because just one carrier, United Airlines, has had a virtual monopoly on flights there since acquiring Continental Airlines in 2010. About 70 percent of the 35 million people who used Newark Liberty last year traveled on United, which controls 73 percent of the airport’s takeoff and landing time slots. That also helps explain why the average cost of a flight at Newark is one of the highest in the nation.

The FAA, recognizing the need for competition, recently rejected United’s bid for more of the available slots at Newark. Instead it will make them available to other airlines. For harried travelers, however, the bad news is that the FAA believes the airport can handle 11 percent more flights. That means more passengers to move through the security checkpoints.

Unless something is done to improve the efficiency of security screening at the airport, the terminals at Newark Liberty promise to become even less friendly.