Flights were grounded at major Northeast U.S. airports on Monday, September 21, 2026, after a Verizon fiber optic line cut caused a failure in FAA communications. Newark Liberty International, John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia, Philadelphia International, and smaller airports in New Jersey and Pennsylvania were affected by loss of radar and radio links at the FAA’s Philadelphia TRACON facility.
Newark and JFK Account for Most Cancellations
Newark experienced the most severe delays, with no commercial flights landing for about eight hours and over 600 flights delayed or canceled by 6 p.m. Philadelphia International reported more than 400 flight delays and roughly 200 cancellations. Across the U.S., nearly
4,000 flights faced delays and close to 500 were canceled due to the ripple effects of the outage.
Fiber Optic Line Severed by NJ Transit Construction
The disruption was triggered when a construction crew working on an NJ Transit rail project near New Brunswick, New Jersey, accidentally severed a Verizon fiber optic cable supporting FAA radar and radio data feeds. Verizon confirmed that its cable was dug up and cut approximately 10 feet from utility markings, and stated their systems were fully functional before the incident.
Double Fiber Failure Eliminated Aviation Communications
FAA officials reported that after the main fiber optic line was severed, an attempted switch to the backup fiber revealed the backup
also had a break. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said, “when it went to flip into the backup, we discovered the backup fiber had a break.” This eliminated both primary and redundant communications for the Philadelphia TRACON, which manages approach control for multiple Northeast airports.
Airlines Respond with Waivers and Staffing Adjustments
United Airlines, operating a major hub at Newark, and American Airlines, with a hub at Philadelphia, waived change fees for customers affected by the disruption. Both airlines implemented additional staffing and customer service measures to mitigate traveler impacts. United also described the event as a technology failure impacting all Northeast airlines.
NJ Transit publicly acknowledged their
construction crew “accidentally severed a fiber-optic cable while working at the site” and indicated staff were addressing repair progress and liability issues. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy tweeted that flights were resuming Monday evening following repair completion.
Operational and Passenger Impact
Passengers faced missed connections, extended tarmac waits, and diversions. More than 100 flights destined for Newark were rerouted to alternate airports including Detroit Metropolitan and Washington Dulles International. Philadelphia and other impacted airports experienced crowded terminals and long lines for rebooking amid hundreds of cancellations and delays.
Restoration and Continued Delays
Verizon completed repairs to the fiber optic lines by Monday evening, allowing partial restoration of FAA communications.
Despite restored radar and radio services, flight schedules remained disrupted into the following day as airlines repositioned aircraft and crews to address backlogs caused by ground stops that lasted roughly eight hours at Newark.
FAA Infrastructure Vulnerabilities Persist
This event exposed a critical “single point of failure” in the FAA’s telecommunications network, with both primary and backup fibers compromised simultaneously. Similar FAA telecommunications outages occurred at Philadelphia in 2025. Congress allocated $12.5 billion in 2025 for infrastructure modernization to address aging systems and vulnerabilities in the nation’s air traffic control.
Simultaneous Rollout of FAA AI System
On the same day as the outage, the FAA began a pilot rollout of
its AI-based traffic management system, SMART, in the Washington, D.C. area. Officials confirmed the fiber cut was unrelated to the software program. The incident raises questions over prioritization of investment between emerging AI capabilities and foundational telecommunications infrastructure.
