The disruption began on Monday when a fiber-optic cable owned by Verizon was severed in New Jersey. The incident triggered a circuit failure that affected air traffic control systems, leading to widespread flight cancellations and delays across the Northeast region of the United States.
Major airports in New York City were forced to implement ground stops due to the outage. According to data from FlightAware, the incident resulted in more than 1,000 flight cancellations across the country throughout the day.
Responsibility for the severed line remains a point of contention. While US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy initially attributed the damage to an Amtrak crew, an Amtrak spokesperson stated that the incident involved a contractor working for New Jersey Transit on their property.
Verizon issued a statement clarifying that it bears no responsibility for the incident, citing construction contractors working in the area as the party that dug up and cut the cable. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford confirmed the discovery of the damage following the circuit failure.
By Monday evening, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the telecommunications lines had been repaired and airport operations were resuming. However, he noted that clearing the backlog of existing flight delays would require additional time.
