The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority temporarily halted flights at major U.S. airports following a communications failure

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed temporary ground stops on Monday at several major East Coast airports after a communications outage at the air traffic control facility in Philadelphia. The measure affected JFK and LaGuardia airports in New York, as well as airports in Newark, Philadelphia, Boston and New Jersey.

The FAA said the problem was caused by the accidental cutting of a backup fiber-optic line by a construction crew. The failure affected some frequencies used by air traffic controllers and led to flight delays, diversions and cancellations.

According to FlightAware, more than 600 flights at Newark and Philadelphia airports were delayed, representing over 20% of scheduled operations. Flightradar24 reported that delays at Newark reached an average of 112 minutes.

Newark is a major hub for United Airlines, while Philadelphia is a hub for American Airlines. Both airports are served by Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON).

The incident has once again highlighted the vulnerability of the U.S. air traffic control infrastructure. In May 2025, the facility managing traffic to and from Newark was affected by major communications outages. Last year, the U.S. Congress approved $12.5 billion to modernize the system and hire new controllers.