US flights canceled after FAA telecom line cut

Hundreds of flights at US east coast airports were canceled or delayed Monday after a construction crew accidentally cut a telecommunications line in New Jersey, US officials said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on X that an Amtrak construction crew cut into a fiber line, causing a telecom outage and forcing the Federal Aviation Administration to pause flights in the Northeast.

Around 1900 GMT, flights were resuming at LaGuardia Airport and Philadelphia, while flights into Newark and JFK airports were paused, Duffy said.

FlightAware data around that time showed Newark Airport with 168 canceled flights and 97 delays. Philadelphia had 63 canceled flights and 189 delays.

FAA chief Bryan Bedford said the disruption involved two problems. After the primary telecom line outage was identified, officials discovered that the backup fiber line also had a break.

Bedford described the backup-line rupture as “massive” and linked it to the construction mistake. He said he expected the primary system to be restored by early afternoon, while repairing the backup line would need about 13 hours.