A telecommunications failure and a damaged backup fiber-optic line disrupted air traffic across the Northeast Monday, grounding or delaying thousands of flights at some of the country’s busiest airports.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily restricted or halted incoming flights at New York’s three major airports—JFK, LaGuardia and Newark—as well as Philadelphia and Boston. Teterboro Airport in New Jersey was also affected.
More than 5,600 U.S. flights had been delayed or canceled as of Monday afternoon, according to FlightAware, with more than 1,200 disruptions at the three New York-area airports. More than 100 flights were diverted.
Equipment Damage Causes Major Delays
The problem began with the failure of a telecommunications circuit at the FAA’s Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which manages air traffic for several major airports in the region. When the system attempted to switch to a backup connection, officials discovered that a fiber-optic cable in New Jersey had also been damaged.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut the fiber line. Verizon, which owns the cable, confirmed that a fiber line running alongside an Amtrak rail route in New Jersey had been severed and said crews were working to restore service.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said a replacement circuit was ready to be installed, while repairs to the damaged fiber line could take approximately 13 hours.
By Monday afternoon, some restrictions were being lifted, although the situation remained fluid. Incoming flights resumed at LaGuardia, while Newark and Teterboro remained paused. Philadelphia briefly resumed operations before another ground stop was imposed because of traffic volume. Boston also experienced a ground stop related to spillover traffic.
The outage is the latest in a series of communications problems involving the Philadelphia facility. The FAA has previously reported telecommunications disruptions there, including outages affecting communications and radar displays.
The incident is likely to add to scrutiny of the nation’s aging air traffic control infrastructure. Congress approved $12.5 billion last year for upgrades and additional controller hiring. Duffy said another $17.5 billion is needed to complete the modernization effort.
The disruption came as New York was preparing to host the annual United Nations General Assembly, with some 130 world leaders and numerous government ministers arriving in the city.
