A severed fiber-optic cable in New Jersey caused major flight disruptions across the New York area, with the FAA issuing ground stops at Newark, JFK and LaGuardia airports. Flights into Philadelphia and Teterboro were also temporarily paused after the FAA reported frequency issues at Philadelphia TRACON, the radar facility responsible for guiding aircraft around Newark and Philadelphia.
Verizon said construction contractors working near an Amtrak rail line accidentally cut one of its fiber-optic cables. The company said its network had been fully operational until the cable was damaged and dispatched technicians to repair the connection. Newark departure delays exceeded 90 minutes as the disruption continued.
By early afternoon, FlightAware reported 681 affected flights, while some departures had resumed at JFK and LaGuardia. Newark continued to experience significant restrictions. The FAA had not confirmed whether the JFK and LaGuardia ground stops were directly linked to the same cable outage.