The Eastern United States air traffic experienced a chaotic day on Monday, September 21st, due to an accidental cut of a crucial fiber optic cable at a construction site in New Jersey. This incident triggered a major telecom network outage, leading to the paralysis of the air traffic control system and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordering an emergency halt to all flights in the Eastern US region. Despite efforts to expedite the repair of the damaged cable, flight delays and cancellations at the three major airports in New York and surrounding areas continued into Tuesday, September 22nd.
According to the latest statistics from flight tracking website FlightAware, as of 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) was the hardest hit with 58 flight cancellations and 53 delays. John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) had 7 cancellations and 46 delays, while LaGuardia Airport (LGA) reported 4 cancellations and 16 delays.
Although the flight suspension at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and Teterboro Airport (TEB) from Monday had been lifted, scattered flight delays and cancellations persisted on Tuesday.
While it is not yet confirmed if all the morning delays on Tuesday were directly related to the fiber optic interruption, the cumulative delays of hundreds of flights have caused a severe ripple effect across the US aviation network.
The incident that brought about a major air traffic disruption in the Eastern US originated from a construction accident.
On Monday morning, a construction site in New Jersey accidentally severed a critical fiber optic cable. Unfortunately, this cable happened to be the backup line for the aviation telecom network at the time, as the main system had earlier malfunctioned, causing both safeguards to fail simultaneously and resulting in an instantaneous interruption of the air traffic control network.
Initially, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy swiftly pointed fingers at the construction team of Amtrak, blaming their improper construction for forcing the FAA to issue the flight suspension in the Eastern US.
However, the New Jersey Transit issued a statement on Tuesday morning clarifying that the accident was caused by the New Jersey Transit’s construction team. The construction workers were operating at the “Delco Lead” project site between New Brunswick and North Brunswick at the time.
The New Jersey Transit indicated that the construction crew was operating 10 feet away from the marked underground cable line and is currently investigating whether the telecom giant Verizon or other contractors “mislabelled the pipeline position,” leading the construction workers to mistakenly believe that the area had no underground cables.
The New Jersey Transit stated that as of Tuesday morning, more than half of the 56 affected cables have been tested and gradually restored online, with on-site technicians working diligently to expedite the repair of the remaining lines.
Transportation Secretary Duffy reminded all passengers on the X platform that while air traffic control has resumed operations, the flight delays caused earlier will take time to clear, and flights across the US may still be impacted. People planning to go to the airport must check with their airlines in advance for the latest flight status information to avoid inconvenience.