FAA Equipment Outage Grounds Flights at Newark, JFK and Philadelphia Airports

An equipment outage at a Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control facility triggered ground stops at multiple major Northeast airports on Monday, disrupting travel for thousands of passengers across the region.

The FAA ordered ground stops at Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, Philadelphia International Airport, and Teterboro Airport after a major circuit failure hit the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control facility, known as PHL TRACON. That facility handles air traffic for Newark, Teterboro, and Philadelphia, and its issues cascaded into the broader New York airspace given how closely the region's schedules are linked.

What Caused the Outage

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the primary telecom circuit serving Philadelphia TRACON failed Monday morning. When the system attempted to switch to its backup line, controllers discovered that line had also been cut. The fiber-optic cable runs adjacent to an Amtrak rail line, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak construction crew had accidentally severed it.

Verizon, which operates the affected lines, said its facilities were fully functional up until that point and that the company bore no responsibility for the incident. 

Impact on Passengers

The disruption caused departure delays of up to 150 minutes out of Newark and Philadelphia. By 6 p.m. ET, flight-tracking data showed nearly 619 flights canceled at Newark and 197 canceled at Philadelphia. Ground stops remained in effect at JFK and LaGuardia until after 6 p.m., and some aircraft already airborne when the stops took effect were diverted to other airports; Boston Logan International confirmed it was receiving a number of diversions from the affected facilities.

United Airlines, which operates a major hub at Newark, said in a statement that many of its Newark flights had been canceled, though not all, acknowledging the outage as a significant disruption for its customers. Passengers across the affected airports reported long waits at gates and on tarmacs as airlines worked through the backlog.

By evening, Duffy confirmed the severed telecom lines had been repaired, and the FAA lifted all ground stops across the Northeast following the restoration of radar and radio frequencies at Philadelphia TRACON. Operations resumed at Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, Philadelphia, and Teterboro, though airlines continued working through delays for hours afterward as aircraft and crews were repositioned.

A Pattern of Problems at the Same Facility

Monday's outage adds to a growing list of technical failures tied to Philadelphia TRACON since it took over responsibility for Newark's airspace from the New York TRACON on Long Island in July 2024, a transfer intended to address staffing shortages and reduce delays at Newark.

The facility experienced a series of high-profile radar and communications problems in the spring of 2025 that briefly left controllers unable to see or communicate with aircraft. A particularly serious incident on April 28 of that year led five air traffic controllers at the facility to take trauma leave, contributing to more than 1,000 flight cancellations. The FAA has faced sustained criticism from lawmakers and industry groups since then over the facility's reliability and the broader condition of the national airspace system's aging infrastructure.

What Comes Next

Air traffic controller staffing also remains a concern tied to the facility. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association has repeatedly warned that the workforce is stretched thin, with many facilities, including Philadelphia TRACON, operating below target staffing levels since absorbing Newark's airspace.

Duffy and the FAA have said the incident underscores the need for additional funding to modernize the national airspace system. Duffy has previously called for accelerated upgrades to air traffic control infrastructure, describing much of the current equipment as outdated, with plans announced earlier this year to replace copper wiring with fiber, upgrade radar systems, and build new control facilities.