FAA halts flights to major US East Coast airports amid outage

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued ground stops for several major East Coast airports on Monday following a significant equipment outage. The disruption, which affected more than 1,000 flights, occurred as world leaders and government officials arrived in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford stated that the agency lost the primary circuit at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), which manages air traffic across the northeast region. According to US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, the outage was caused by an Amtrak construction crew that accidentally severed a fiber-optic line between New Brunswick and Newark, New Jersey. Bedford noted that repairs to the line could take up to 13 hours.

Ground stops were implemented at John F. Kennedy International (JFK) and LaGuardia in New York, Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, Boston Logan, Philadelphia International Airport, and Teterboro Airport. By Monday afternoon, Secretary Duffy reported that flights had resumed at LaGuardia, Philadelphia, and Boston, while ground stops remained in effect for Newark, JFK, and Teterboro.

The incident resulted in nearly 4,000 flight delays and 500 cancellations nationwide. Newark Liberty International experienced the most significant impact, with FlightAware data indicating that 31 percent of departing flights and 29 percent of inbound flights were cancelled by 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

United Airlines, which maintains a major hub at Newark, announced it would waive change fees for affected passengers. A company representative stated that flights destined for Newark were either held at their departure locations or diverted to alternative airports.

Article and image source: aljazeera.com