Fiber Cut at FAA Center Halts Hundreds of Flights Across US Northeast

Hundreds of flights were canceled across the northeastern United States on Monday after technical failures at a key regional air traffic control center brought operations at every major New York City-area airport to a standstill for several hours.

The disruption unfolded as numerous foreign leaders were arriving for the United Nations General Assembly. President Donald Trump's flight from Washington to New York departed as scheduled despite the outage.

The problems occurred at the same Federal Aviation Administration facility in Philadelphia that caused widespread disruptions at Newark Liberty International Airport in the spring of 2025. Flights were affected at Philadelphia as well as at John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia and Newark airports.

Regional control centers rely on two lines to carry data in and out: a primary and a backup. According to the FAA, a circuit on the primary line failed on Monday morning. When the system attempted to switch to the backup, workers found that the fiber optic line had been cut. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak construction crew was responsible.

"These are issues that aren't new to us. We know these problems can happen," Duffy told reporters, stressing the need for funding to overhaul the system. "We know what has to be fixed and it's going to take partnership with the Congress to make it happen."

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency was working to restore the primary connection as quickly as possible by installing a new circuit on the primary line, while also repairing the backup fiber optic line. He said it was unclear how long the work would take, describing the fiber break as "massive" and estimating a repair time of about 13 hours. He added that the FAA might be able to get the primary line working again before the fiber line is fixed.

Bedford said the agency did not learn of the fiber break until after the primary circuit was lost, and that L3 Harris, the FAA's prime contractor, monitors both the primary and backup lines, suggesting the two failures occurred around the same time. Verizon said its technicians were working to restore service as soon as possible.

The primary circuit that failed is due to be replaced as part of a broader modernization of the nation's air traffic control system.

By early afternoon, some flights were beginning to resume at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Philadelphia, though significant delays were expected for the rest of the day. Some airlines allowed customers to change flights without fees, and the FAA advised travelers to check their flight status with their airline before going to the airport.

Separately on Monday, the FAA began testing a new computer system that uses artificial intelligence to help predict schedule conflicts and weather issues so controllers can reroute traffic. The system is initially being tested only in the Washington, D.C., area and did not appear to be linked to the outages.