East Coast Flight Disruptions Ease After Fiber Cable Cut

Flight disruptions eased on Tuesday at Newark Liberty International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport, a day after a fiber cable break cut air traffic controllers off from key radio and radar feeds.

As of 7:10 a.m. ET, about 60 flights at Newark and 30 flights at Philadelphia were canceled, a decrease from over 600 cancellations at Newark the previous day. The disruptions were caused when a New Jersey Transit construction crew accidentally cut a Verizon fiber-optic line needed for a backup system at an air traffic control facility in central New Jersey.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) discovered the problem after the main system failed and switched to the damaged backup system. The primary communications line at the FAA facility in Philadelphia had failed earlier Monday. More than 100 flights into Newark were forced to divert after the FAA halted traffic into the United Airlines hub. Many diverted flights were international, sending passengers to cities including Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Boston.

United Airlines offered flight attendants extra pay to pick up Newark trips to ease delays. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated on Monday evening that the damaged communications lines had been repaired and airport operations were resuming, though it would take some time to clear all existing delays. The outage brought commercial air traffic to a near-standstill at Newark for much of Monday.

A Business Insider analysis of Flightradar24 data found 165 flights bound for Newark, LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy, and Philadelphia Airports diverted elsewhere on Monday. Newark Airport bore the brunt of the chaos with 109 diverted flights. United Airlines appeared worst affected, canceling 361 flights and delaying almost 800. American Airlines also experienced over 100 cancellations and 1,300 delays.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford stated the primary circuit was old and due for replacement, and about 600 feet of the backup fiber was accidentally cut. Duffy blamed Congress for not adequately funding his agency, stating the problem is foreseeable and will happen again without more money. The disruption occurred as 130 world leaders arrived for the UN General Assembly.