A major communications failure at a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facility in Philadelphia caused major flight delays and cancellations at several airports across the Northeast on Monday after a primary circuit failed and a backup fiber-optic cable was accidentally cut at a New Jersey construction site.
The outage affected the FAA’s Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON, facility, which handles air traffic for Newark Liberty International Airport, Teterboro Airport and Philadelphia International Airport.
Speaking to reporters, Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford said a major circuit failed at the Philadelphia facility. When officials attempted to switch to the backup system, they discovered that the backup line had also been cut.
The FAA initially ordered ground stops at Newark, Teterboro and Philadelphia before expanding the restrictions to LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports in New York.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak construction crew had accidentally cut a fiber line in New Jersey, causing the telecommunications outage and forcing the FAA to pause flights across the Northeast.
NJ Transit said a construction crew working on the Delco Lead project between New Brunswick and North Brunswick accidentally severed a fiber-optic cable at about 9:45 a.m. The agency said the cable served as a backup to a primary circuit that had failed.
“Preliminary information indicates the crew was operating approximately 10 feet from the utility markings,” NJ Transit said.
NJ Transit staff were at the site working to determine the condition of the cable and whether the utility markings were provided by Verizon or the contractor responsible for marking the utilities.
The agency said it would continue working with Verizon and the contractor while the circumstances surrounding the incident are investigated.
Bedford said the fiber break could take about 13 hours to repair, describing the damaged line as a major break. He said a replacement circuit was ready to be installed.
United Airlines canceled all remaining domestic flights to and from Newark for the rest of Monday and said it was prioritizing international departures. The FAA extended ground stops at Newark and Teterboro until 5:45 p.m., according to NBC New York.
Duffy later said flights were resuming at Philadelphia and LaGuardia, while restrictions remained in place at other affected airports.