NewzDamaged communications lines at a key air traffic control facility in Philadelphia had been repaired, allowing airports across the U.S. Northeast to resume operations after hours of disruptions, the nation's transportation secretary said Monday evening.Hundreds of flights were canceled, including more than 600 into and out of Newark Liberty International Airport, as the outage hit every major airport in the New York City area. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also said in an online post that “it will take some time to clear all existing delays” despite the repairs.The primary communications line at the Federal Aviation Administration facility in Philadelphia had failed earlier Monday, while the backup fiber optic line was inadvertently severed by railroad construction workers.
The failures left controllers without radar or communications for hours.The outage brought commercial air traffic to a near-standstill at Newark for much of the day, with no commercial flights landing at the airport from about 9:40 a.m. local time, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.More than 200 flights into and out of Philadelphia International Airport were also canceled, while disruptions hit LaGuardia and Kennedy airports in New York. By Monday evening, flights were resuming at those airports.Some airlines were allowing customers to change flights without charge.
The FAA advised travelers to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport.The outage occurred just as President Donald Trump and numerous foreign leaders were flying into New York City for the United Nations General Assembly.Cindy Phan said her morning flight from Newark to Minneapolis was repeatedly delayed before she learned around 3 p.m. that it had been canceled and rescheduled for Tuesday, requiring her to find and pay for another night at a hotel.“We could have had a whole day in New York,” Phan said, adding that she wanted to get home to her “two little Chihuahua babies.”The technical problems stem from the same FAA facility in Philadelphia that caused numerous disruptions at the Newark airport last spring.Regional control centers like these have two lines that carry radar and communications data in and out: the primary and the backup. The FAA said a circuit on the primary failed Monday morning, and when the system tried to switch to the backup, workers dis…
Technicians have repaired data lines that failed at a key regional air traffic control center, and all the major airports in the New York area have resumed flights after hundreds of flight cancellations rippled throughout the U.S. Northeast.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an online post that the primary and backup lines were fixed by Monday evening and all airports in the Northeast are operating again. But significant delays are expected to continue through the rest of the day.Hundreds of flights were cancelled at the Newark, LaGuardia, Kennedy and Philadelphia airports.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE.
AP’s earlier story follows below.Hundreds of flights were canceled in the U.S. Northeast due to technical problems at a key regional air traffic control center, hitting every major airport in the New York City area for several hours Monday.The primary communications line failed at a key Federal Aviation Administration facility in Philadelphia and the backup fiber optic line was inadvertently severed by railroad construction workers. That left controllers without radar or communications.The outage affected flights to and from Kennedy, LaGuardia, Newark and Philadelphia airports.By Monday evening, flights were resuming at all those airports.
However, significant delays were expected through the rest of the day. Some airlines were allowing customers to change flights without charge.
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