Cut fiber cable grounds hundreds of US flights during UN summit
An Amtrak construction crew cut a backup fiber optic line at Philadelphia's air traffic control center. This paralyzed major Northeast airports.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled across the US Northeast on Monday. The Federal Aviation Administration facility in Philadelphia lost both its primary and backup data lines.
The primary line failed in the morning. The system tried to switch to backup.
Controllers found the fiber optic cable had been cut by an Amtrak construction crew. The outage closed four major airports serving New York City: Newark, LaGuardia, Kennedy, and Philadelphia.
This happened as foreign leaders were arriving for the United Nations General Assembly. President Trump's flight from Washington left as planned.
Repairs to the damaged fiber line should take about 13 hours. The FAA said it might fix the primary line sooner by installing a new circuit.
By early afternoon, some flights began resuming. But major delays were expected through the rest of the day.
- Newark, LaGuardia, Kennedy, Philadelphia
- Airports affected
- 13 hours
- Estimated repair time
- Spring 2025
- Prior outage
Why it mattersThe outage showed a serious problem in US air traffic control. A single cut cable disabled the entire backup system. This system protects one of the world's busiest airport regions.
AustraliaNo direct Australian effect yet, but the incident highlights infrastructure risks that could affect international travel routes and highlights the importance of redundant systems for critical services.
Corroborated by7news.com.au
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 d ago
