FAA telecom outage disrupts thousands of US flights

Thousands of flights across the US were disrupted on Monday after a telecommunications problem at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted incoming flights at several major East Coast airports for hours. The FAA resolved the issue later in the afternoon.

The disruption began around 9:45 a.m. after workers accidentally cut a telecommunications line in New Jersey used by the FAA. The incident came as New York was preparing to receive 130 world leaders and dozens of ministers for the annual high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

The FAA halted arrivals at all three major New York-area airports, along with airports in Philadelphia and Boston and two smaller airports in the New York region. The disruption lasted for about eight hours.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X late Monday afternoon that the damaged telecommunications lines had been repaired and normal operations across the Northeast were gradually resuming. He added that it would take time to clear the remaining delays and urged passengers to check their flight status before heading to the airport.

Flight-tracking website FlightAware reported that around 7,000 flights were delayed or cancelled, including approximately 1,400 flights at the three major New York-area airports.

More than half of all flights at Newark Airport, a major United Airlines hub, were cancelled. The airline said it had issued a travel waiver to assist affected passengers.

The disruption also forced more than 100 flights to be diverted to other airports. The incident highlighted the vulnerabilities of the ageing US air traffic control system, which received $12.5 billion in funding from Congress last year for upgrades.

New Jersey Transit said a crew had been digging at one of its work sites about 10 feet from the utility markings. The agency said it was still trying to determine whether Verizon or the contractor had made the markings.

Duffy initially blamed an Amtrak construction crew, saying it had accidentally cut a fibre-optic line in New Jersey near New Brunswick, causing a telecommunications outage and forcing the FAA to pause flights across the Northeast. Amtrak denied responsibility for the incident.

Around 5:30 p.m., New Jersey Transit said most of the fibre cables had been repaired and were expected to come back online shortly.

Newark Airport reopened to arriving flights after an eight-hour closure, while LaGuardia Airport also resumed arrivals after being closed to flights for much of the afternoon.

Verizon said it was working to repair the damaged cable near the Amtrak rail line and restore connectivity as quickly as possible.

Flights at Philadelphia Airport resumed late in the afternoon after a second ground stop was lifted. Reagan Washington National Airport also halted flights for more than an hour because of congestion.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said a replacement circuit had failed at Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control, which provided the primary communications for the centre. A ground stop at Boston Airport, which had stopped accepting flights because of increased traffic from diverted flights, was also lifted, Reuters reported.

“The timing ⁠is absolutely horrible and I’m very sorry for the delays and cancellations,” Bedford told reporters. He stressed that safety was the top priority. “We’re going to do what is necessary to make sure the airspace is safe.”

The loss of communications was linked to a failed circuit at a Philadelphia air traffic control facility that manages air traffic for the affected airports, Bedford said. Authorities later discovered that a construction crew had accidentally cut a backup fibre-optic line.

“When it went to flip into the backup, we discovered that the backup fiber had a break, and that fiber break is probably 13 hours to repair. It's massive, I'm told. Meanwhile, we've got the new circuit ready to install now,” Bedford said.