A failure in telecommunications at a key air traffic control center halted operations at several airports in the northeastern United States on Monday, causing hundreds of cancellations and delays that impacted thousands of passengers for hours, according to Telemundo.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued ground stop orders at Newark Liberty, Teterboro, and Philadelphia airports due to capacity issues, while activity at JFK and LaGuardia was also suspended. The incident originated at the Philadelphia TRACON center, the facility that manages air traffic for the northeastern region.
The problem began when a main telecommunications circuit failed in the morning. While attempting to switch to the backup system, technicians discovered that the fiber optic line had been accidentally cut. The Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, publicly pointed to a construction crew from Amtrak as responsible for the cut, which occurred in New Jersey.
Newark Liberty was the hardest hit airport, with around 500 arrivals and departures canceled, more than a third of its scheduled operations for the day. According to data from Reuters, by 2 p.m. Eastern Time, the airport recorded 21% of flights canceled and 20% delayed.
United Airlines announced the cancellation of all its domestic flights—both from its main fleet and United Express—with origin or destination in Newark for the rest of the day, prioritizing only the pending international departures. The airline issued a travel waiver so that affected passengers could change their itineraries without incurring additional charges.
"We are aware that this interruption poses a significant inconvenience for our customers. Once the situation is resolved, we will work to get them to their destinations safely," the company stated in a statement.
The FAA administrator, Bryan Bedford, warned that the repair of the cut fiber could take significantly longer. "Repairing that fiber break will likely take 13 hours. It's a huge failure," he stated, according to a video released by a CBS transportation reporter. Verizon reported that its technicians were working to restore service as quickly as possible.
The incident occurred during a peak moment of operational pressure: dozens of foreign leaders were traveling to New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly. President Donald Trump's flight from Washington to New York, however, was able to depart as scheduled.
It is not the first time that these facilities have caused air traffic chaos. The same TRACON in Philadelphia previously caused serious disruptions in Newark in the spring of 2025, when controllers lost contact with aircraft for about 30 seconds, and the radar screens went blank for nearly 90 seconds. In response, the FAA installed new fiber optic lines between Newark and Philadelphia, but it became evident on Monday that this infrastructure remained vulnerable.
By early afternoon, flights began to gradually resume at LaGuardia and Philadelphia, while Newark, JFK, and Teterboro remained grounded. The FAA advised travelers to check their flight status with their airline before heading to the airport.
The main circuit that failed was scheduled to be replaced as part of the modernization of the national air traffic control system, a process that the agency has been trying to expedite for years due to an infrastructure that has accumulated decades of technological lag.
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