World
FAA grounds East Coast flights after crew cuts fiber line in New Jersey
September 21, 2026 at 08:56 PM · Updated 24d ago
Coverage
6 reports · 4 in Arabic, 2 in English · over 9 hours
A fiber-optic line cut by an Amtrak crew in New Jersey forced the FAA to ground flights at East Coast airports, snaring thousands of travelers.
- The FAA issued ground stops Monday at JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia, Boston Logan, and Teterboro airports; stops later lifted at LaGuardia, Philadelphia, and Boston.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said an Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut a fiber line in New Jersey, causing the outage.
- Nearly 4,000 US flights were delayed and 500 cancelled; United Airlines waived change fees for impacted travelers.
- FAA radio systems are vulnerable to spoofing and jamming, a GAO report found; Senator Ron Wyden called the lapse a "major threat" to national security.
- FAA chief Brian Bedford said a break in the main line and damage to the backup fiber caused the outage, with repairs taking about 13 hours.
- Flights resumed at LaGuardia and Philadelphia around 7:00 p.m. GMT, while departures to Newark and John F. Kennedy remained suspended.
- Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said flights fully resumed across northeastern airports Monday evening after repairs lifted the remaining ground stops.



