Flying out of Newark Monday? Hundreds of flights delayed by FAA issues

✈️The FAA paused flights into Newark, Philadelphia and Teterboro Monday morning

✈️Nearly 900 flights were delayed as of 1 p.m.

✈️Flights at LaGuardia and JFK were also affected

Hundreds of flights were delayed at five airports Monday due to air traffic control issues, disrupting travel across the region.

The FAA paused flights into Newark Liberty, Philadelphia and Teterboro airports Monday morning "due to issues with some frequencies at Philadelphia TRACON." TRACON stands for Terminal Radar Approach Control, which uses radar and radios to guide planes in the airspace around airports. Flights into JFK and LaGuardia have resumed.

Transporation Secretary Sean Duffy said on his X account an Amtrak construction crew accidentally cut into a fiber line which caused a telcom outage.

"This incident underscores the need for additional funding to modernize aging infrastructure and prevent disruptions like this in the future," Duffy said.

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FAA ground stop extended several times Monday

FAA administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters that the agency is working to restore the key connection as soon as possible by installing a new circuit on the primary line, while also working to repair the backup fiber optic line. He said it’s not clear how long that will take.

“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.

The current outage, which started around 10:15 a.m., was extended several times and remained in effect until at least 4:45 p.m. Monday in Newark and Teterboro. A ground delay is in effect for LaGuardia, JFK and Philadelphia.

As of 3 p.m. nearly 900 flights in and out of the affected airports were delayed, according to FlightAware.com.

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