US Northeast flight cancellations surge after Philadelphia FAA systems fail

Newyork/pennsylvania,UPDATED: Sep 22, 2026 01:54 IST

Hundreds of flights were cancelled across the US Northeast on Monday after technical problems at a key regional air traffic control centre disrupted operations at all major airports in the New York City area for several hours. The disruption came as many foreign leaders were flying in for the United Nations General Assembly.

Flights linked to New York's Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports, as well as Philadelphia, were affected after systems connected to an air traffic facility in Philadelphia failed. However, President Donald Trump's flight left Washington DC for New York as scheduled.

The Federal Aviation Administration said a key circuit at the Philadelphia facility failed on Monday morning. FAA administrator Brian Bedford told reporters the agency then found that a backup fibre optic line had also been cut during construction work elsewhere, between New Brunswick and Newark in New Jersey.

Bedford said the FAA was working to restore the connection by installing a new circuit on the main line while also repairing the backup fibre optic line, but it was not clear how quickly that could be completed. "That fiber break is probably 13 hours to repair. It's massive," Bedford said, according to a video posted online by a CBS transportation reporter. He also said the failed main circuit is due to be replaced as part of an overhaul of the country's air traffic control system.

The technical problems occurred at the same FAA facility in Philadelphia that caused repeated disruptions at Newark Liberty Airport in the spring of 2025. By early afternoon, some flights were beginning to resume at LaGuardia and Philadelphia, but major delays were expected through the rest of the day. Some airlines allowed customers to change flights without charging fees.

Also on Monday, the FAA began testing a new computer system that uses AI to help predict schedule conflicts and weather issues so air traffic controllers can reroute traffic. The system is being tested only in the Washington, DC, area at this stage, and it did not appear to be linked to the outages that led to widespread cancellations and delays in the Northeast.

With PTI Inputs

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