Flight operations restarted Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at New York City-area airports including Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) following a severe communication outage at a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control facility in Philadelphia.
The disruption originated at the FAA Philadelphia facility where the primary communications circuit failed early Monday morning. Efforts to switch to the backup fiber optic communications line were thwarted when the line was inadvertently severed by railroad construction workers. This double failure left controllers without radar and communication capabilities for several hours.
Flight Cancellations and Delays at Major Airports
Newark airport experienced
a near-total halt in commercial flights landing from about 9:40 a.m. until just after 5:20 p.m. local time on Monday, September 21, 2026. More than 600 flights into and out of Newark Liberty International Airport were canceled Monday. Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) faced over 200 cancellations during the same period. The outage affected every major airport in the New York City metropolitan area, including JFK and LaGuardia, leading to a combined total of more than 1,000 cancellations and over 6,000 flight delays across the U.S. Northeast on Monday.
Continuing Impact and Traveler Advisories
Though flights resumed by Monday evening, residual delays and cancellations persisted into
Tuesday morning. Flightaware.com reported approximately 40 flight delays and nearly 60 cancellations at Newark airport early Tuesday. Airlines permitted passengers to change flights without penalties due to the disruption. The FAA advised travelers to verify their flight status before arriving at airports.
Official Statements and Investigation Into the Cause
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted online Monday that “it will take some time to clear all existing delays” despite repairs restoring operations. The FAA attributed the outage to a primary communications circuit failure combined with the inadvertent severing of the backup fiber optic line by railroad construction crews. While an Amtrak construction crew was initially blamed, Amtrak
denied responsibility and pointed to a New Jersey Transit crew working along the rail corridor between Newark and New Brunswick, New Jersey. Investigations are ongoing.
The technical issues stemmed from the same FAA Philadelphia facility that caused flight disruptions at Newark last spring. The outage coincided with the arrival of President Donald Trump and other foreign dignitaries attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney missed a Monday UN event due to the flight disruptions but arrived in New York by that evening.
Passenger response reflected frustration with the situation and airport handling.
Traveler Liz Kettlewell said, “They’ve left us all on our own. We’re all wandering about. We’re all looking at boards. We’re all watching the planes get delayed. Or cancelled or whatever. And no one has come near any of us.” An airline worker reportedly told a passenger, “Can you back up please because you’re about to touch me?”
The outage underscores vulnerabilities in backup communication infrastructure used by regional FAA control centers, which rely on fiber optic lines along rail corridors. Clearing the backlog from the disruption remains a challenge as air traffic controllers and airlines work to restore normalcy
across the U.S. Northeast.
