Sept. 21 (UPI) — Flights at five major airports in the Northeast have resumed Monday evening, hours after equipment outages caused many cancelations and delays.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy posted on social media that the damaged telecom lines that caused the issues have been repaired.
“It will take some time to clear all existing delays, so please check with your airline for the latest information,” Duffy wrote.
Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled at five airports in Newark, N.J., New York and Philadelphia on Monday because of equipment failures.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the problems started when a circuit blew at a Philadelphia air traffic control facility. Then, when a backup system went into effect, officials found out that workers had cut a backup line in New Jersey.
Duffy originially said an Amtrak crew cut the line; Amtrak said it was a NJ Transit contractor.
By Monday evening, more than 900 flights had been canceled throughout the country. Another 5,000 were delayed. Newark Liberty International was the worst hit, though Philadelphia International, Teterboro, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International were also affected. All are handled by the Philadelphia TRACON facility.
“We have a fiber cable running adjacent to an Amtrak rail line in New Jersey,” Verizon said in a statement. “Construction contractors working in the area dug up and cut our cable. We and our partners are actively working to repair the damaged cable and restore connectivity as quickly as possible.”
The portion of damaged communications line was a stretch of about 600 feet between New Brunswick and Newark, N.J.
The timing of the incident coincides with the U.N. General Assembly meeting this week in New York City. Diplomats from around the globe are coming into the area for the meeting, which starts Tuesday.
Source: U.S. News
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