Flights are disrupted across US Northeast because of technical problems at a key air traffic center
Sep 21, 2026, 11:55 AM
FILE - A traveler with a smartphone walks past an air traffic control tower at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia on March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke
(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Hundreds of flights were canceled in the U.S. Northeast on Monday due to technical problems at a key regional air traffic control center, halting operations at every major airport in the New York City area for several hours just as numerous foreign leaders were flying in for the United Nations General Assembly.
However, President Donald Trump’s flight left Washington D.C. for New York as scheduled.
A key circuit failed at an air traffic facility in Philadelphia, affecting flights into that city as well as Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports. The Federal Aviation Administration then discovered that a backup fiber optic line had also been cut due to construction elsewhere.
The technical problems happened at the same FAA facility in Philadelphia that caused numerous disruptions at Newark Liberty International Airport in the spring of 2025.
FAA administrator Brian Bedford told reporters that the primary circuit into that air traffic control facility failed Monday morning. Then the agency discovered that the backup fiber optic line had been severed somewhere between New Brunswick and Newark, New Jersey.
Bedford said the FAA is working to restore the key connection as soon as possible by installing a new circuit on the primary line while also working to repair the backup fiber optic line, but it’s not clear how quickly that will be completed. “That fiber break is probably 13 hours to repair. It’s massive,” Bedford said, according to a video posted online by a CBS transportation reporter.
The primary circuit that failed is due to be replaced as part of the overhaul of the nation’s air traffic control system.
By early afternoon, some flights were starting to resume at LaGuardia and Philadelphia, but significant delays are expected through the rest of the day. Some airlines were allowing their customers to change flights without charging them fees.
Also Monday, the FAA began testing a new computer system that uses AI to help predict schedule conflicts and weather issues to help air traffic controllers reroute traffic. But that system is initially being tested only in the Washington, D.C., area, so it does not appear to be linked to the outages.
