Flights are taking off and landing at New York City-area airports, with some remaining delays and cancellations following a significant disruption caused by technical problems at a key regional air traffic control center in Philadelphia.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) facility experienced failures in its primary communications line on Monday. The backup fiber optic line was subsequently severed, reportedly by railroad construction workers, leaving air traffic controllers without radar or communications for several hours. This outage affected all major airports in the New York City area, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations across the U.S. Northeast on Monday.
Newark Liberty International Airport was particularly impacted, with over 600 flights canceled on Monday. Commercial air traffic at Newark was effectively halted for much of the day, with no commercial flights landing between approximately 9:40 a.m. and 5:20 p.m. local time. By Tuesday morning, Newark was showing about 40 delays and nearly 60 cancellations, according to flight tracking website Flightaware.com.
Philadelphia International Airport also saw more than 200 flight cancellations, and disruptions were reported at LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports in New York. Flights had largely resumed by Monday evening.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy stated that while repairs have been made, it will take time to clear all accumulated delays. The FAA advised travelers to verify their flight statuses before heading to the airport and noted that some airlines were allowing flight changes without additional fees.
The incident occurred as President Donald Trump and numerous foreign leaders were scheduled to arrive in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney missed an event on the sidelines of the assembly due to the flight disruptions but had arrived in New York by Monday night.
This is not the first time this Philadelphia FAA facility has caused widespread disruptions. Similar issues at the same location led to numerous delays at Newark Liberty International Airport last spring.