Newark and Philadelphia Flights Recover After Fiber Cable Break

Flight disruptions at Newark and Philadelphia airports eased on Tuesday, a day after a fiber cable break cut air traffic controllers off from key radio and radar feeds and stranded thousands of travelers.

By early morning, about 60 flights in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport were canceled - roughly 5% of the day's schedule - down from more than 600 the day before, according to FlightAware. At Philadelphia International Airport, about 30 flights, around 2% of the schedule, were canceled.

Officials said a NJ Transit construction crew in central New Jersey accidentally cut a Verizon fiber-optic line needed for a backup system at an air traffic control facility that guides planes to nearby airports. The Federal Aviation Administration said the problem was discovered after the main system failed and switched to the damaged backup.

More than 100 flights into Newark were forced to divert after the FAA halted traffic into the United Airlines hub, many of them international flights whose passengers were sent to other cities, including Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Boston. United offered flight attendants extra pay to pick up Newark trips and ease delays.