A telecom circuit failure and an accidentally cut backup fiber cable caused severe disruptions to air travel across the Northeast on Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights at major East Coast airports, including JFK, Newark, Philadelphia, and Boston.
Transport Secretary Sean Duffy stated that an Amtrak construction crew in New Jersey accidentally cut into a fiber line. This incident triggered a telecom outage that forced the FAA to implement significant ground stops and pause flights throughout the region.
The equipment outage affected more than 1,000 flights, resulting in over 1,000 delays and hundreds of cancellations. The FAA has since resolved the outage at the Philadelphia air traffic facility that led to the disruption.