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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/09\/21\/us\/east-coast-flights-ground-stop-communication-failure.html?emc=edit_na_20260921&nl=breaking-news&segment_id=226841",
    "parsed_content": "AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTTechnical Problems Ground Flights at Major East Coast AirportsThe incident revived concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s aging air traffic control infrastructure.Listen \u00b7 4:59 min Share full articlePlanes at Newark Liberty International Airport last month.Credit...Al Drago for The New York TimesBy Karoun DemirjianReporting from WashingtonSept. 21, 2026Updated 5:44 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google At least five airports along the East Coast, including four that serve the New York region, experienced significant ground stops on Monday after a radio communications system in Philadelphia and its backup failed, triggering flight delays across one of the country\u2019s most congested corridors.By midafternoon, LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport had resumed delayed operations. But it was unclear when Newark Liberty International Airport and Teterboro Airport, a hub for private jets, would emerge from ground stops, after efforts to replace the radio communications module that failed were unsuccessful.The mounting delays and cancellations snarled hundreds of flights just as New York was welcoming world leaders for the United Nations General Assembly. Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada was forced to skip a summit and speech planned for Monday evening when the ground stops delayed his flight, according to a statement from his office.More than 400 flights bound for affected airports in the Northeast had been canceled by Monday afternoon, according to FlightAware, while hundreds more had been delayed.Bryan Bedford, who leads the Federal Aviation Administration, told reporters that the outages began Monday morning, when an antiquated communications circuit at a control center that manages flight traffic in the Philadelphia region failed, forcing Philadelphia and Newark to ground planes. At that point, he explained, controllers attempted to switch to a backup communications system that runs along fiber optic cable the F.A.A. recently installed as part of a push to modernize the air traffic control system.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTBut the backup was inoperable, Mr. Bedford said, because a 600-foot section of the fiber optic line had been cut, which officials only discovered after the main system failed.\u201cWe didn\u2019t know about the fiber break until after we lost the primary circuit,\u201d he told reporters.The damaged section of the fiber line was located between New Brunswick, N.J., and Newark, crippling the center\u2019s ability to transmit radio and radar data, Mr. Bedford added.In a statement, Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, said that the line had been cut by an Amtrak construction crew. In a statement, Verizon, which installed the fiber cable, said that the line runs adjacent to an Amtrak rail line, and that construction crews dug up and cut the cable. They did not specify when that happened, but said they were working to repair the cable \u2014 something Mr. Bedford said could take 13 hours.Sign up for the On Politics newsletter. It's a pivotal moment for American politics. Join us for 2026 and beyond. Get it sent to your inbox.As Verizon worked on repairing the fiber line, officials attempted to fix the initial failed circuit, Mr. Bedford said \u2014 a fix that required them to suspend service to the New York area airports as well, to ensure that data could be safely transmitted.But \u201cthe circuit replacement did not work,\u201d Mr. Bedford added.When asked if that meant that some flight traffic could be grounded until the fiber cable could be fully repaired, Mr. Bedford said he did not know.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTMichael McCormick, a former air traffic controller and a professor of air traffic management at Embry\u2010Riddle Aeronautical University, said that the ground stops would likely lead to significant operational problems.\u201cThey are not going to be able to recover today,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are going to have crews, passengers and aircrafts in the wrong locations to start out their systems tomorrow morning. It may take them an additional two days to be able to recover.\u201dThe incident, which unfolded as Mr. Bedford and Mr. Duffy were rolling out a new artificial intelligence tool to help air traffic controllers avoid delays, has revived concerns about the F.A.A.\u2019s aging air traffic control infrastructure. Failures of that infrastructure have caused a number of outages in and around the New York region in recent years, which in turn have helped fuel urgent calls from Mr. Duffy and others to invest in modern upgrades.But Monday\u2019s ground stops raised new questions about whether the agency\u2019s upgrades were durable enough.\u201cThese are issues that aren\u2019t new to us. We know these problems can happen. We know these cuts can happen,\u201d Mr. Duffy told reporters. He said that fixing and modernizing the communications systems \u201call takes money,\u201d and called on Congress to appropriate tens of billions of dollars more to help the department complete its work.Mr. Bedford said that in a fully modernized system, the F.A.A. would rely on fiber optic cable as its main operating system, and have cloud-based services to function as backup. But those do not yet exist, he said.Christine Chung and Ian Austen contributed reporting.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT",
    "published_at": "2026-09-21T18:59:49+00:00",
    "author_name": "Karoun Demirjian",
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