Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed late Monday that telecom lines had been repaired and all airport operations in the US Northeast were resuming after hours of chaos. The disruptions began when a primary communications circuit failed at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, which handles air traffic for multiple airports. When controllers attempted to flip to a backup line, they discovered a fiber cable had been cut by an Amtrak construction crew working in New Jersey.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters the backup fiber break would take approximately 13 hours to repair. “It’s massive, I’m told. Meanwhile, we’ve got the new circuit ready to install now,” he said. The FAA halted incoming flights at John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia, Philadelphia International, Boston Logan, and two smaller New York-area airports. More than 100 flights were diverted to alternate airports.
Verizon, which owned the damaged cable, said in a statement to CNBC that it bore “no responsibility for this incident,” blaming “construction contractors working in the area” that “dug up and cut our cable.” The company said its facilities were fully functional until the cut occurred.
Flights resumed at LaGuardia before Newark and Teterboro remained paused longer. Philadelphia briefly lifted its ground stop then re-imposed it. Reagan Washington National Airport also halted flights for over an hour due to volume. By evening, all ground stops were lifted.
The outage struck as 130 world leaders and dozens of ministers arrived in New York for the UN General Assembly. FlightAware reported more than 5,600 delays or cancellations across the affected region, with 1,200 at the three New York-area airports alone. Newark is a major United Airlines hub, while Philadelphia serves as an American Airlines hub.
Last year, the same Philadelphia air traffic control facility experienced a series of significant communications outages. Congress subsequently approved $12.5 billion to upgrade the aging air traffic control system and boost controller hiring.