267 Newark Flights Delayed After Cable Cut Disrupts FAA Radar

Construction workers severed a backup telecom cable on Monday, triggering ground stops and hundreds of flight delays at four major East Coast airports, according to BBC News.

The cable fed the Terminal Radar Approach Control system, which guides planes during takeoff and landing, transportation officials told the BBC. The outage forced the Federal Aviation Administration to ground flights at airports in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the cable was repaired Monday evening. Normal operations resumed at affected airports, though residual delays continued, the BBC reported.

How many flights were delayed?

Newark Liberty International Airport, one of three major airports serving New York City, took the heaviest hit. Flight-tracking site FlightAware recorded 267 delayed departures from Newark and 257 delayed arrivals into the airport on Monday, according to the BBC. John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Philadelphia International Airport also reported disruptions.

By the numbers

• 267 — Newark departures delayed Monday, per FlightAware
• 257 — Flights inbound to Newark delayed the same day
• 4 — States with affected airports: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts

Who caused the cable damage?

Accounts differ on which contractor severed the line. Duffy initially said the damage was caused by workers from Amtrak, the national intercity rail operator, according to the BBC. He wrote on X that the incident "caused a telecom outage" that forced the FAA to ground flights.

An Amtrak spokesperson told US media the incident involved a contractor working for NJ Transit, the BBC reported. NJ Transit told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that its construction workers had accidentally severed the line and that markers had been wrongly placed at the dig site. Verizon, which owns the cable, said it bore no responsibility, according to the BBC.

"Sitting on the same plane, on the tarmac at Boston with no information."

That account, from passenger Douglas Tewnion, described conditions two hours after his Edinburgh-to-New York flight was diverted to Boston, according to the BBC. He said "everyone is in good spirits" but called the added wait "just a pain."

Why did a backup cable cause a system-wide outage?

The severed line was a backup network, not the primary circuit, according to FAA head Bryan Bedford, as reported by the BBC. The failure was only discovered after the primary circuit had already gone down, leaving air traffic controllers without either connection to the terminal radar system.

Glossary

• Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON): FAA facilities that track and direct aircraft during takeoff, landing and approach within roughly 30-50 miles of an airport.
• Ground stop: An FAA order halting departures to a specific airport, typically issued when the destination cannot safely accept arriving traffic.
• Backup circuit: A redundant telecom line meant to maintain service if the primary line fails; both failed in this case before the redundancy gap was found.

What is the timeline of the disruption?

• Monday afternoon: Construction workers cut a Verizon-owned cable during digging work; ground stops and delays follow at Newark, JFK, LaGuardia and Philadelphia International.
• Monday, later afternoon: FAA confirms the TRACON telecom outage; Duffy attributes the damage to Amtrak workers on X.
• Monday evening: Duffy announces the cable has been repaired; airports begin resuming normal operations, per the BBC.
• Monday night: NJ Transit tells CBS News its contractor severed the line due to misplaced markers; Amtrak says the contractor worked for NJ Transit, not Amtrak itself.
• Tuesday: Delays linger as the UN General Assembly opens in New York, drawing world leaders through the same airport corridor.

What happens next for UN General Assembly travel?

The disruption landed a day before the UN General Assembly convened in New York, an event expected to draw scores of world leaders through New York-area airports, according to the BBC. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham boarded his flight before the delays began and arrived as planned, the BBC reported.

What to watch

• Whether FAA officials release a formal cause determination naming the responsible contractor.
• Whether Newark, JFK or LaGuardia report residual delays into Tuesday as UN-related traffic increases.
• Whether Verizon, Amtrak or NJ Transit face any regulatory follow-up over the marking error at the dig site.
• Whether the FAA reviews backup-circuit monitoring after officials said the primary line had already failed before the backup was found severed.

No agency has yet published a public root-cause report on the marking error described by NJ Transit, based on available reporting.