Fiber Line Cut Halts Flights at Major East Coast Airports

A telecom outage triggered by a construction crew cutting a fiber line brought flights to a standstill at several busy East Coast airports on Monday, disrupting more than 1,000 flights.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued ground stops at New York's John F Kennedy International and LaGuardia, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, Boston Logan and Philadelphia International Airport. The disruption came as 130 world leaders and dozens of ministers arrived in New York for the United Nations General Assembly's annual high-level meeting.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters the agency had "lost the primary circuit" at Philadelphia TRACON, which controls air traffic into Philadelphia and across the busy northeast US airspace. He said a backup fiber had also broken, with the cut located between New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Newark. Repairs could take up to 13 hours, he said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that an Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey, causing the telecom outage. He said flights had resumed into LaGuardia and Philadelphia, and the ground stop was lifted in Boston, but remained in effect at Newark, JFK and Teterboro Airport.

At Newark alone, more than 1,000 flights were delayed or cancelled, with the airport recording the highest disruption levels in the country, according to FlightAware. United Airlines, for which Newark is a major hub, said it would waive change fees and issued a travel waiver, noting that flights bound for Newark were held at departure airports or diverted.