A fibre-optic cable severed in New Jersey triggered a major air-traffic disruption across several large US Northeast airports on Monday, forcing the FAA to pause flights and issue ground stops. Newark Liberty was hit hardest, while JFK, LaGuardia, Philadelphia and Teterboro also saw heavy delays and cancellations as the outage affected communications tied to the Philadelphia TRACON system.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy linked the disruption to a construction crew working near an Amtrak rail corridor in New Jersey. Verizon said contractors accidentally dug up and damaged a fibre line running parallel to the rail line, and NJ Transit identified the work as part of the Delco Lead project between New Brunswick and North Brunswick. Officials later confirmed that the cable had been repaired and that operations were resuming, although residual delays continued into the evening.
The outage rippled far beyond the initial ground stops, with more than 5,600 flights reported affected across the network. Some coverage also mentioned Boston as delays spread regionally, but the core operational impact centred on the New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia airspace. The incident highlighted the fragility of backup communications systems used to support takeoff and landing guidance at some of the busiest airports in the country.