According to ABC News reported on September 21, a telecommunications line malfunction and the cutting off of an optical fiber cable have caused thousands of flights in the United States to be disrupted. This has also led to the suspension of incoming flights at major airports in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.
On the day the flight was canceled, 130 world leaders and dozens of ministers were arriving in New York one after another to attend the annual high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
On September 21 local time, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) suspended inbound flights at busy airports on the East Coast of the United States. For a period of time, inbound flights at three major airports in the New York area, as well as two smaller airports in Philadelphia, Boston, and the New York area, were also stopped.
According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, more than 5600 flights were delayed or canceled, including 1200 flights at three airports in the New York area. This issue also forced over 100 flights to divert to other airports.
Later that evening, U.S. Transportation Secretary Shannon Adams stated that the telecommunications lines had been repaired, and the operation of all airports in the northeastern United States was being restored.
He added that flights at LaGuardia Airport in New York are being restored, but flight operations at Newark Airport and Teterboro Airport remain suspended.
However, after the ground flight ban in Philadelphia was briefly lifted, all inbound flights were again suspended. Reagan Washington National Airport also suspended flights for over an hour due to traffic issues.
FAA Director Bryan Bedford stated that a line at the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control Center malfunctioned, and this line is the central communication line of the center.
Bedford said that the FAA will not restore the landing flight systems at the affected airports until airspace safety is ensured. Subsequently, authorities discovered that a construction team from Amtrak (the United States National Railroad Passenger Corporation) accidentally cut a fiber optic cable in New Jersey, causing a telecommunications outage and forcing the FAA to suspend flights in the northeastern region.
He said, “When the system switched to the backup line, we found a break in one of the backup fibers. It will take about 13 hours to fix that. I heard the amount of work involved is quite large. Meanwhile, we are now ready to install the new line.”
It is reported that in May 2025, Philadelphia facilities responsible for guiding air traffic at Newark Airport also experienced a series of severe communication interruptions.
In 2025, after receiving numerous complaints about airport congestion, flight delays, and technical issues over several years, the U.S. Congress approved $12.5 billion (approximately 83.7 billion RMB) for upgrading aging air traffic control systems and hiring more controllers.
U.S. Transportation Secretary FAA said that Congress needs to approve another $19 billion to complete this work, and stated that “this is unacceptable in the United States.”
