ALBAWABA- A telecommunications failure at a key US air traffic control facility disrupted operations at several major East Coast airports on Monday, forcing ground stops, flight diversions and thousands of delays.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said a primary telecommunications circuit serving the Philadelphia Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility failed, forcing air traffic controllers to switch to a backup fiber-optic connection. That line was subsequently severed by construction crews in New Jersey, leaving controllers without reliable communications and radar data transmission.
The disruption affected Newark Liberty International, Teterboro, Philadelphia International, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International airports. Boston Logan International Airport also reported related equipment problems. At the height of the outage, incoming flights were halted across the New York, Philadelphia and Boston areas, disrupting one of the busiest air corridors in the United States.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the backup cable, operated by Verizon and running alongside an Amtrak rail line between New Brunswick and Newark, was accidentally cut by construction contractors. Verizon confirmed that its cable had been damaged and said it was not responsible for the incident. About 600 feet (183 meters) of cable was affected, with repairs expected to take around 13 hours.
UPDATE: An Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line in New Jersey which caused a telecom outage and forced FAA to pause flights in the Northeast.Right now:- Flights are resuming at LGA and PHL - Flights into EWR, JFK, and Teterboro Airport are pausedThis… https://t.co/3CDnTioMv0
The FAA said a replacement circuit was being installed as a faster alternative. By mid-afternoon, flights had begun resuming at LaGuardia and Philadelphia, while limited operations returned at JFK. Ground stops remained in place longer at Newark and Teterboro.
At least 90 flights were diverted, while nationwide figures showed nearly 4,000 delays and about 500 cancellations. Newark alone recorded more than 1,000 delayed or canceled flights.
The disruption coincided with the arrival of more than 100 world leaders and ministers in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, adding pressure to already congested regional airspace. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the incident underscored the need for additional investment to modernize the country's aging air traffic control infrastructure.
The Philadelphia TRACON manages approach and departure traffic for several airports across the Northeast. Officials said the simultaneous failure of the primary and backup systems left controllers without dependable data links until a replacement circuit could be activated.
Dr. Mansour Al-Maswari is Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University-Global Center, Amman. A Yemeni academician with a Ph.D. in English "Comparative Literature" and two MA degrees, one in political science and the other in English, Dr. Al-Maswari possesses more than 17 years of extensive experience in university-level teaching, research, research reviewing, bilingual translation, and copy-writing...
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